Part of the excitement regarding the
festival merchandise is the fact that the prices remain the same as
last year, with the exception of the license plates. License plates
are in and can be put on your car immediately. A new array of
T-shirt colors, in addition to the white and ash gray, are available
this year -- pink, butter (yellow) and sand (khaki) with the
festival logo. The polo shirts are in birch (gray) and butter. The
official pilot shirt has the racing checked collar. Pretty snappy!
Our denim offering this year is short-sleeved with the embroidered
logo. A red sandwich-billed cap or a khaki and black low-profile cap
looks great with the rest of the merchandise.
Two new venues will be unique to the
festival this year. The Art of Wine, sponsored by Main Street
Lincoln, promises to be a tasty addition to the weekend. The
traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall will be a major addition to the 2003
festival. The wall, displayed on the east side of the main drive at
Lincoln Christian College, will be open around the clock for
visitors, starting at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, through 4 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 24. Local veteran groups will provide information and
honor guards at the site.
Following their visit to the Vietnam
Memorial Wall, visitors can see and hear more military history by
driving a short distance from LCC. Around the field to the north and
west, Heritage in Flight, located at the Logan County Airport, will
host an open house Saturday, Aug. 23. Tours of the military museum
(housed in a historic prison camp bunker), displays in the hangar
and outdoor static displays that include military vehicles and
aircraft will be provided by HIF members.
A record number of balloon pilots and
sponsors (50) and a full slate of artists are contracted for this
red-letter year. Calls come in daily for crafters, commercial
vendors and flea market applications. The YMCA staff is making
changes to the Adventure Zone, which will prove to be a great place
for the kids. The Soap Box Downhillers, sponsored by Graue Inc.,
Lincoln Kiwanis and Insight Communications, will race down South
Kickapoo Street on Saturday, and the classic car cruise-in,
sponsored by the Cool Cruisers, will be around the Logan County
Courthouse on Sunday.
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There will be something for everyone to
enjoy over the weekend, including a wonderful exhibit of fireworks
following the glow on Saturday night. Fireworks are being sponsored
by S & N Fireworks and the chamber.
A free showing of Underground Railroad
and Civil War quilts will be displayed in the Logan County
Courthouse rotunda Aug. 21-24. Dr. Clarice Boswell, an Underground
Railroad expert and author, will give a free program in the
third-floor courtroom at 6:30 p.m.
Aug. 21. Author and quilter Susan Kirby
will be at the show all day Aug. 23 to sign books and show her
quilts. Hours for the exhibit are from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 21 and
22, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 23, and from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 24.
In a separate location, the Layman
Gallery, on the Lincoln College campus, will host a free Underground
Railroad and black history exhibit Aug. 16 through Sept. 6. The
gallery will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday
(except Labor Day) and from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, or by
appointment.
Special-shape balloons to be featured
this year are the three-tiered Birthday Cake, to celebrate Lincoln's
150th birthday; Arky, Noah's Ark filled with animals; Coco the
Clown; Air Bear; and Freedom Flight. These balloons are locally
sponsored by the city of Lincoln; Animal Crackers Childcare, Inc.; Britsch Mobile Homes, Home of Britsch Towing; Area Disposal and
Lincoln Land Communications; and Fricke-Calvert-Schrader Funeral
Homes, Holland & Barry Ltd., and Kerrigan-Peasley Funeral Home.
Brochures
featuring both the
Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival and the Lincoln
Sesquicentennial have been delivered to area businesses, and many
have gone out all around the state. If you need any additional
information, give the chamber a call at (217) 735-2385 or write to
303 S. Kickapoo St., Lincoln, IL 62656.
[Lincoln/Logan
County Chamber of Commerce]
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