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Organizers look on opening of Festival Season in Lincoln with excitement
Pigs & Swigs this weekend
Part three: Fine Art Show, Arts and Crafts/Flea Market, Logan County food products show, Antique Car Show

 

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[June 03, 2015]  LINCOLN - Even though the first festival of the year is labeled as Pigs and Swigs to promote the Up in Smoke Barbecue competitions and new Craft Beer events, the weekend is going to be packed with a whole lot more than just barbecue and beer.

The first draw of the weekend will begin on Thursday night. The Logan County Arts will host a new art exhibit "Fun" with a reception held on opening night. By this time, there should be some of the food vendors and barbecue competitors might be on hand, and the Arts are hopeful that those folks will join them at the "Fun" show reception.

The art show will be held at the Lincoln Art Institute on McLean Street, and will be open throughout the weekend, offering the public an opportunity to come in out of the sun and enjoy a slightly quieter moment, enjoying the work of many local artists, and visiting with the hosts.

One of the larger attractions of the weekend will be the return of the Oasis Craft and Flea Market in Scully Park and the Oasis Café, which offers a great selection of food choices. The café will offer a rib eye sandwich, pork chop sandwich, or bratwurst. There will be Walking Taco’s, Nachos and Cheese, and a variety of chips offered as well. Sweets being offered will include Funnel Cake, fried doughnuts ( ½ dozen per order), fried Oreos (three per order) and fried Twinkies. Beverages offered will include the ever popular special blend Oasis Lemon Shake Ups and Orange Shake Ups. Other beverages will include iced tea, soda, water, and coffee and juice will be offered in the mornings.

In the Pigs and Swigs event guide, there are approximately 40 vendors listed for the craft and flea market. However, Cara Barr of the Logan County Alliance said last week that Oasis Executive Director Dom Dalpoas had reported that the number was up to over 50 since the printing of the booklet.

The craft and flea market will be open starting on Friday and running through Sunday.

On Sunday, the barbecue competition will be over, and most all of the competitors will be gone before noon. But that doesn’t mean there will be vacant space around the downtown square in Lincoln.

On Sunday afternoon, the Railsplitter Antique Auto Club Car Show will move in and set up on three sides of the square. The show will be held on Broadway Street between Kickapoo Street and McLean Street, on two blocks of McLean between Broadway and Clinton Street, on Pulaski Street between McLean and Kickapoo, and also on South Kickapoo Street between Pulaski and Clinton.


Barr said the club held its first downtown cruise-in of the season in May and were excited to have over 60 cars on display, about 20 more than the norm. They are hopeful that the show on Sunday will bring in a new record number of vehicles. Barr also commented the club is doing more to grow its shows. They have increased the cash prizes and the number of trophies given out in the show categories.

Tucked into the heart of the car show will be the Logan Ag Flavors, a second-year program that last year was offered as a separate event in downtown Lincoln. The Logan Ag Flavors is sponsored by the Logan County Farm Bureau and will be set up on the south half of McLean Street, in front of the Farm Bureau offices.

This show is an opportunity for the public to get an idea of what goes into food production in Logan County. Vendors on hand will include Gail’s Pumpkin Patch, Huelskoetter Pork, JAM Sweet Treats, Sasse’s Apiary, Irwindale Holsteins and Prairie Farms, vendors from the local Farmer’s Markets, the Heartland Beef Alliance, Logan County 4-H, Logan County FFA, and the Logan County Goat Producers.

The McLean County Farm Bureau will be bringing in their Mobile Ag Exhibit, which was a very popular attraction at last year’s event.

Vendors will be offering a variety of free samples, and some will also be selling their products.

While parking in the downtown area is always limited, with the smaller footprint of the festival this weekend there will be more options available.

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Streets will be open on all four sides of Scully Park with parking permitted. The Shay Parking lot between Scully and the Arcade will be available as well as the City/Library parking lot on Pekin Street. Street side parking will be available on Broadway on either side of the downtown square and also on North McLean, north of the square and on North Kickapoo north of the square.

The State Bank of Lincoln is also opening its parking lot to those who are attending the Craft Beer Events.

Barr is new to the Logan County Alliance, and this is her first year as events coordinator. She noted last week that she felt like the Pigs and Swigs event was an ideal place to get her feet wet in festival planning because of all the great committees that are involved. She said throughout the planning process, members of each of the committees have met on a regular basis to discuss their component of the festival, and her role in those meetings has been a pleasant one, because everyone is well organized and on the same page in their planning.

Andi Hake of the Alliance and Nicole Cox of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce are excited to see how everything turns out this weekend. Expanding the Art and Balloon Festival into four events has taken a lot of discussions and work on their part.

The LCA and Chamber along with the Logan County Tourism Bureau are going to be heavily involved in the first three festivals -- Pigs & Swigs, Art in the Park, and the Balloon Festival.

The fourth Festival will be this fall. The National Railsplitting Festival is held in September. That festival will be conducted much as it has been in the past, but with one added component from the original Art and Balloon Festival. The 1800’s Craft Fair held at the Postville Courthouse will be going on at the same time, and will offer visitors an additional look into the days of Abraham Lincoln in Logan County.

Planning for the Art in the Park is nearly complete, and work is ongoing on the Balloon Festival. To date, Barr said that the Balloon Festival is going to have at least 31 balloons with more still signing up.

In June, in addition to Pigs and Swigs, there will also be the Ribs & Rides in Atlanta and the Route 66 Garage Sales in Lincoln.

In July will be Arts in the Park.

August will begin with the Logan County Fair, and end with the Lincoln Balloon Festival.

In September will be the Atlanta Fall Festival, the Mount Pulaski Fall Festival, and the National Railsplitting Festival, Middletown is planning an event, and the Lincoln Futbol Club Route 66 Soccer Shootout will take place once again.

October will bring the St. John’s United Church of Christ Germanfest and the Lincoln Christian Church Harvest of Talents.

Going into late fall early winter, November will bring Christmas on Vinegar Hill in Mount Pulaski and in December the Lincoln Christian University will offer Christmas in the Chapel.

Looking at the calendar for this summer, it would appear that there is indeed always something to do, if not in Lincoln, then in Logan County.

[Nila Smith]

 

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