Summer is in full swing, and this weekend brings with it a multitude of activities for all ages.
Head down to Olpe Saturday for the town’s annual Olpe Downhome Festival, featuring a full day of events from a fun run at 6 a.m. to a street dance that ends at midnight.
“This is our seventh one since we restarted it,” said Joyce Wilson, one of the event’s organizers. “Downhome was originated in the 1990s and went for several years until it died out. We restarted it in 2003.”
Events will include a fun run at 6 a.m., several musical groups at the park’s shelter house, kids games at the park and a fishing derby that already has 100 children ages 3 to 12 signed up. There will be an appreciation ceremony for service members at 8:30 a.m., a drug dog demonstration, a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament, a car show, lawnmower races, an ice cream social and canoe rides offered by representatives of Camp Alexander. A parade will bring the festivities from the park to downtown, followed by a barbecue and the street dance that will cap off the day’s activities.
Also featured will be drawings for more than 100 prizes with a total value of about $4,500. The Red Cross Bloodmobile will be running a blood drive at the festival as well.
“We try to combine community service with fun activities for everybody,” Wilson said. “There will be plenty of food and fellowship.”
Proceeds from the festival will go to improve the park.
“The first couple of years we spent the money on a new scoreboard in the park, then playground equipment for 2- to 5-year-olds, and then last year we contributed to playground equipment for 5- to 12-year-olds,” Wilson said. “That was a pretty massive undertaking there.”
Money from the festival also helped to wire the park for electricity.
Olpe Downhome is organized by community volunteers who formed a corporation to handle it, Wilson said.
“If you want to give credit to the person who spearheads this, it’s Garry Wilson,” Wilson said. “He is the driving force behind it, and without him I’m not sure we’d be doing it. He’s the one who gets most of the credit for keeping it moving.”
Wilson hopes this year’s turnout will be better than last year’s.
“It didn’t go over well last year because it rained from 6 in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon,” she said, adding that the evening’s events went well once the rain stopped.
“Come and enjoy,” Wilson said. “There’s just something for everybody.”
Also on Saturday will be the annual Butterfly Release at the butterfly garden at the David Traylor Zoo, 75 Soden’s Road. The release, sponsored by Hand-In-Hand Hospice, will begin at 9:30 a.m.
This will be the hospice’s sixth annual butterfly release.
“Originally we did it just for our own hospice families,” said Cyrele Clausen of Hand-In-Hand Hospice. “It was a remembrance service for those who had a family member in our hospice who had died, and then people asked us if we could include others.”
The event evolved into one that includes the community in general.
“People can either honor someone maybe who is still living or just do it in remembrance of someone who has passed away,” Clausen said.
Butterflies are $10 each, and there might be some extras available at the zoo Saturday morning. Clausen said about 75 butterflies have been sold so far.
In case of rain, the butterflies will be released at the zoo at 6 p.m. Sunday.
All proceeds go to help hospice patients.
“We frequently have patients who maybe don’t have any insurance, and so we still help provide for their medications and medical equipment and provide all of our hospice staff to provide care for them,” Clausen said.
Also this weekend:
Mariah Serrano Benefit Softball Tournament
A softball tournament to benefit Mariah Serrano, who was seriously injured in a car accident in May, will begin at 6 p.m. tonight and will continue at 8 a.m. Saturday in Hartford. Eleven softball teams have been organized to support Mariah in her recovery. Concessions will be sponsored by the Hartford High School cheerleaders. Also available will be homemade breakfast burritos and cinnamon rolls, Mariah’s Angels T-shirts, Mariah’s Journey window decals and Praying for Mariah wristbands, all of which will be sold during the games. Raffle tickets for a variety of prizes also will be sold.
Farmers Market
Stop by the Farmers Market at Seventh Avenue and Merchant Street beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday. This weekend’s market will include a Big Brothers, Big Sisters Hot Food Fundraiser at the Farmers Market kiosk.