Another year of the Plainwell Days festival will kickoff the summer Thursday, June 1, in downtown Plainwell.
The volunteer-run event will begin Thursday afternoon with the carnival opening for business at 4 p.m. and the hometown parade beginning at 7 p.m.
Organizer Tracee Dunlop said the parade is just days after the city’s Memorial Day parade.
“I know, with Memorial Day and the festival, everything is falling pretty close to Memorial weekend,” Dunlop said.
The grand marshal will be community volunteer and former local business owner Nancy Heilig.
A new feature of this year’s festival will be Friday’s Senior Expo.
Dunlop said, “We just try to come up with something for all age groups. For the seniors, we have a lot of different vendors coming in, with freebies to hand out.
There will be 30 to 35 vendors on hand and drawings for a couple televisions.
The popular Sips on the River beer and wine tasting event has expanded.
“It’s very popular now, the beer and wine tasting,” Dunlop said. “It’s being spread out over two days this year.”
Over 30 different beers and 30 different wines will be available at the community tent. The cover charge this year will be $10 and tickets will cost $1.
Local bike shop Dirty Boyz is putting on the bike show Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. on North Main Street.
The organizers said it was a great example of what they want the festival to be, a local business stepping in to help run part of the event they’re interested in.
“We’re trying to bring in a few new things slowly,” Dunlop said. “It’s about finding volunteers to run things. To actually run the festival itself, there are only about eight to nine people, so we don’t have a lot right now.”
A free event on Sunday will be the end of the festival, with the Family Olympics at Thurl Cook Park from noon to 4 p.m.
“It’s similar to the old sack races and egg tosses, those old-time kid type games,” Dunlop said. “We’ve got the adults in there with the kids, more with the idea of having something for everyone.”
Teams of four, mixed children and adults, will compete in the games.
Dunlop said, “That’s going to be a free thing, we’re just asking a few bags of food donations to help the police department stuff a truck for Christian Neighbors.”
Last but certainly not least among new additions is the Pony Plop 50/50 raffle event.
Organizer Nancy Morehouse said, “They have a grid marked out at Gilkey school with 100 squares. Wherever the pony poops, that’s who wins.”
The raffle will benefit Bridges of Hope, the Plainwell-based nonprofit that seeks to help people learn strategies to lift themselves out of poverty.
Morehouse also explained another aspect of the festival to help people.
“We awarded our first $1,500 scholarship to a Plainwell graduate Garrett McCormick,” she said. “It was a goal of ours as the committee progressed. We put aside the money last year and approached Plainwell schools and said we’d give two scholarships but only had one apply.”
Sponsors and donations made the scholarship possible, Morehouse said.
“Part of the criteria for the scholarship next year is that they do 10 hours of community services at the festival,” she said.
The festival will feature all this and more.
Contact Dan Pepper at dpepper@allegannews.com or at (269) 673-5534 or (269) 685-9571.
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