Summerfest is on the way

Saturday, June 5, 2010

ROACHDALE -- Years ago, an annual Fourth of July event made Roachdale the place to be. It was a summer festival complete with a parade and children's activities. The local Lions Club was involved and even an infamous Roach race was held.

When the Lions Club disbanded, the event faded away.

Three years ago, a local group including Connie Edwards, Debbie Sillery, Jenni Engel, Jana Brothers, Joannie Knapp, Darrell Sandusk, Bonnie Yarhaus and members of Delta Theta Tau Sorority pulled together to successfully bring back the Summerfest celebration in Roachdale. They called themselves Roachdale PRIDE.

This year the group decided to move the festival to June 26 with a kick-off the evening of June 25 from 4 to 10 p.m. with the VFW offering DJ entertainment.

With plenty of food vendors signed up the group is looking for local artisans, commercial vendors, school groups and nonprofit organizations who would like to have a booth at the daylong event.

A small animal clinic will be available with the New Winchester Animal Clinic. Vaccinations, testing and micro chipping will be available.

There will also be car seat checks during the event. Plenty of games and entertainment for all ages will be ongoing throughout the day. Stagecoach rides, Mr. Pick-a-Pocket and a corn hole tournament will all be part of the entertainment. A teen dance will take place in the evening.

And, the infamous roach race will be a highlight of the event.

Connie Edwards and her family organized the Roach Races and were instrumental in pulling the parade together last year.

Edwards vowed she and her family would make sure there would be both a parade and a Roach Race regardless of whatever else the committee could produce this year.

"Last year it was just a really, really good time. People were selling roach earrings and necklaces, decorating their critters and having fun," said Edwards.

"This is all about building community spirit," said Roachdale Elementary Principal Scott Spencer. "We need to see more people on board and involved."

The PRIDE group hopes local merchants will have a sidewalk sale that day and that a local farmer's market might take place along with a flea market and arts and crafts vendors.

"People are needed to help with publicity and fundraising, organizers for sale related activities, organizers for a car show, children's activities and entertainment venues," said Bonnie Yahraus.

Cost for a 10 x 10 booth space is $10. Vendors who rent three or more booths get a 25 percent reduction. Hours for vendors are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday.

"This is a great way for groups or organizations to make money," added Yahraus.

"This is such a great opportunity to bring people back together and share that camaraderie. We just need to get more people together in order to get more people," said Scott.

Anyone interested in helping or who needs more information can contact Bonnie Yahraus at 522-1430 or Dianna Gorrell at 435-2813.

Comments
View 1 comment
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. Please note that those who post comments on this website may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
  • This is great...we have this in advance, with WHO,WHEN, WHERE & WHY...AND lots of other stuff.

    Great going BG!

    -- Posted by mothersue on Sat, Jun 5, 2010, at 2:31 PM
Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: