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[August 30, 2007]  DELAVAN -- The Delavan Fall Festival runs Friday through Monday in Lake Park.

Here is the latest "line" on the fishing derby. Mr. Lessen and his FFA students are excited to oversee this event again this year. It will be at Delavan's Lake Park on Saturday. Registration will be from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and fishing from 8:30 to 11 a.m. There will be three age groups: 4-6 years, 7-9 years and 10-12 years. Prizes will be awarded after the final weigh-in.

This year's fishing derby is co-sponsored by the city of Delavan and the Delavan Fall Festival. Don't miss out, kids. Come join the fun. Get those rods and reels ready.

The Delavan Fall Festival is proud to announce its second annual bicycle race and road ride. The ride encompasses 23 miles of rolling farm country along the scenic Mackinaw River, with low-use side roads, sag-supported, and water and food stops. Double your miles on a road ride by reversing the route, which is optional. Little Ade's Bicycle Shop will be at the starting line to assist with any individual needs. The race will start at 8 a.m. Saturday, and the road ride will start at 8:15.

This event is sponsored by Camden Chiropractic and Little Ade's Bicycle Shop.

For further information, go to www.delavanfallfestival.com, or if you have any questions, please call 309-244-7224 or 309-642-9252.

This year's fall festival community worship service will be led by several Delavan youth. The youth will serve as ushers, offer prayers and lead in other parts of the liturgy. The service will be at the Lake Park amphitheater on Sunday, beginning at 10:45 a.m.

The guest speaker will be Susan Tindall. She grew up in central Illinois, currently resides in Bloomington and has family connections in Delavan. Her father, Rick Tindall, is the pastor of Danvers Presbyterian Church. Susan is currently a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she is beginning her second year of study. She interned at Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington this summer with the youth

The offering from the community service will go toward the purchase of special fuel-efficient stoves for refugees in Darfur. The women in the refugee camps are forced to leave the camps in search of scarce wood to fuel their cooking fires, and while they are out scavenging for wood, they are vulnerable to many of the atrocities we hear about. Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, however, have designed an extremely fuel-efficient cooking stove, which costs only $30. For $30, a stove will keep a whole family safely in the camps and give them a means to cook their food rations.

The community is invited to come to the park for this community worship service, which is hosted by the Delavan Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Stephen Whittaker is the minister. It is recommended that those attending bring their lawn chairs.

Sand volleyball will once again be an event of friendly competition at the fall festival. Interest has grown over the last several years, and we are looking forward to another year of great competition for the teams and the fans. This year's coed sand volleyball tournament is a referee-monitored double-elimination tournament and will be on Sunday, with the first game beginning at 9 a.m. Registration begins at 8 a.m.

Entry fee is $40 per team. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. Get your entry in early, as the tournament will be limited to eight teams.

Country Companies Insurance, Eric Jensen, agent, is the sponsor for the sand volleyball tournament.

For entry forms, answers to questions or further information, please contact Stephanie Bright at 309-840-0782.

The route for the fall festival parade is pretty simple. All entries for the parade will line up at the school parking lot on South Locust Street. Leaving the school, the parade will go north on Locust to First Street and turn right onto First Street. The parade will continue to Lake Park, at the corner of First and Linden, where it will disband. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. Monday. The theme is "Fiesta in the Park."

As in previous years, to assist in lining up entries, advance registration is encouraged. Please contact Deb Moehring, 309-244-9241, or Cheryl Hawkins, 309-397-2437, to register.

The fall festival will include an antique tractor pull. The hot farm stock tractors and the 4x4 truck pulls will take place again this year, based on their popularity the last several years. The events are scheduled for Sunday and Monday at Delavan's Lake Park. Hot farm stockers and 4x4 trucks will pull at 1 p.m. Sunday. Antique tractors will pull at 11 a.m. Monday, with pure farm stock and open classes. Pulling fans won't want to miss these shows!

Caterpillar is sponsor for this year's tractor pull events.

For more information, go to www.delavanfallfestival.com.

Displays and exhibits at the fall festival will include some antique farm equipment. Antique tractors and other farm equipment from days gone by will be on display.

This is just one more way to acknowledge the contributions that area farmers have made over the years, not only to this agricultural community, but to all of us who enjoy the farm food products that are sitting on the shelves in our grocery stores.

If anyone has antique farm equipment they would be interested in displaying at the festival, please contact Doris Higdon at 309-244-8894 or dorisah@mtco.com.

The fall festival's vegetable and crop contest will be on Saturday. Exhibitors may place their vegetables and grain in the display area beginning at noon. Judging will take place at 1 p.m.

There will again be an entry fee, which will cover as many entries as the exhibitor desires. Only the classes listed below will be judged and eligible for premiums; however, if an exhibitor has another product that would be of interest to the public, he or she is invited to display this, knowing that the product will not be judged. All products must be grown by the entrant. Judging will be based on the quality of the product, as well as being uniform and disease-free. Premiums will be awarded as follows: first place, $8; second place, $4.

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Classes in the vegetable category are as follows: 01 -- plate of three red or white potatoes; 02 -- plate of three pumpkins; 03 -- plate of three cucumbers.

Grain classes are as follows: 04 -- tallest stalk of corn with ear attached and cut off even with the ground; 05 -- two stalks of corn with ears attached and cut off at ground level; 06 -- 10 ears of corn (current season '07 corn) displayed on a tray; 07 -- quart of shelled corn in glass jar; 08 -- one bundle of soybeans (five stems with roots cut off); and 09 -- quart of soybeans in a glass jar.

If you have questions, call Janet Zimmer at 309-244-8892.

Again this year, two dinners will be served in conjunction with the fall festival. A whole-hog dinner will be served on Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This dinner will include applesauce, green beans, a drink and pie for dessert.

On Sunday, a walleye dinner will be served from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sides served will be coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans. A choice of two sides will be offered with each dinner, plus a roll, a drink and pie for dessert.

The regular food stand line will be open, with the usual menu available, for those not wanting the full dinner.

If you are interested in helping serve one or both of these dinners, please contact Janet Zimmer at 244-8892.

For more information, please visit www.delavanfallfestival.com.

The 32nd annual Delavan Fall Festival 10K road race will be on Monday at 8 a.m.

For more information, go to www.delavanfallfestival.com.

The race is on… the annual duck race that is. The actual race will be Monday afternoon. This event seems to create more interest each year for young and old alike. The Hopedale Medical Complex Delavan Doctor's Office is sponsoring the duck race this year. Delavan Fire Department members assist festival board members with this event each year. The duck race will be in the large lake in Lake Park.

Gail Mitchell, chairman of the event, reports that in preparation for this year's race, all of the ducks have been in for a complete checkup, so they are in great shape for race day. Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners, with first place being $200.

A special "ducky" trinket is awarded if you purchase five or more ducks. So buy a duck for each family member and cheer your duck to victory! You may purchase your ducks the entire festival weekend and anytime prior to the festival from any festival board member.

The Delavan Fall Festival has contracted with a new carnival for this year. Jerry Germain Rides and Concessions, from the St. Louis area, will have new and different rides for all ages.

Advance carnival tickets are available at First Farmer's State Bank and Bank Plus until noon Friday. Advance tickets offer the best value, with savings of 30 percent off the regular-priced rides during the festival weekend. Buy advance tickets and save big!

For more information, visit www.delavanfallfestival.com.

Entries are being accepted for the talent contest at the festival. This talent contest will be at the Lake Park stage. Prizes will be awarded in various age categories. Sponsor for this year's talent contest is Moore's Appliances. There will not be a lip sync contest this year

For more information or to enter the talent contest, call Debbie Woiwode at 244-8514. Deadline for entries is Friday.

The TV game show "Deal or No Deal" proved to be so popular in 2006 that the fall festival board decided to bring it back for the 2007 festival. Cash prizes will again be awarded.

In a continuing fashion for adding variety to the festival entertainment and events, two other popular TV game shows will be added to the schedule. "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and "Family Feud" games will be part of the festival activities this year.

The Delavan Family Pharmacy and Glenn Allen will sponsor the Dan Barth Medicine Show at the fall festival. Barth, a well-known variety entertainer, storyteller, TV host, humorist, card expert and historian, will perform several times during the weekend.

This noncommercial version of the old wagon variety show is dedicated to the performers of the late 19th century, and especially to the friends of Barth who coached his career. Vaudeville, chautauqua and repertoire theater are represented in the magic, comedy with audience participation and ventriloquism, all which have made this show a lasting success.

Dan Barth and his Medicine Show previously appeared at the fall festival and proved to be quite popular with his audiences. His show is for the entire family, not just the kids.

Cody Diekhoff, the Chicago Farmer, is described as a folk singer's folk singer and a poet's poet. He is originally from Delavan and has quite a large following of fans from central Illinois. He will perform at the Delavan Fall Festival on Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. in the large pavilion at Lake Park.

To learn more details on his musical background and experience, go to www.chicagofarmer.com.

[Text from file received from Doris Higdon]

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