A perfect weekend for a festival in Mount Pulaski

 

[September 17, 2018] 

This past weekend, the community of Mount Pulaski came together for their annual Fall Festival.

The festival began on Friday evening with a ribbon cutting and opening ceremony. The MP Festival Committee led the ribbon cut with the LDN Ribbon Cut Crew providing the ribbon and scissors.

Friday night events included the competition for the 2018 Miss Mount Pulaski, Junior Miss Mount Pulaski, Little Miss Mount Pulaski, and Little Prince Mount Pulaski.

Pageant the winners were:

Prince Grant Jones
Lil Miss Mount Pulaski - Swayzie Titus
Jr. Miss Mount Pulaski - Audrey Cooper
Miss Mount Pulaski - Chasey Stewart

Of the competitors, the child who sold the most tickets for the weekend received the prize for Super Sales Winner. That prize went to Madison Stoll.

Miss Congeniality was awarded to Madison Manes.

Also on Friday evening, two Mount Pulaski residents were recognized. Rick Volle of the Farmer’s Bank in Mount Pulaski received the 2018 Community Pride Award for outstanding vision, dedication and commitment to Mount Pulaski.

A second award was given to Teena Lowery. Her plaque read “Mt. Pulaski Community Pride's Grand Marshal For the Mt. Pulaski Fall Festival Parade - Teena Lowery - "Celebrate Every Day" Thank you for your commitment, support and inspiration to others. You exemplify endless positive attitude and truly celebrate every day.”

The 50/50 raffle winner for the night received $456. The winner was David Gibbs.

Lip Sync Contest

In the Friday night Lip Sync Battle, the Solo Artist award went to Chris Martin performing the Justin Moore song “Lettin’ the Night Roll.”

The winners in the duo category were Drew Dyer and Daniel Siebert performing to the song “I Had the Time of My Life” from the movie Dirty Dancing.

Saturday events in Mount Pulaski began early with a 5K Run/Walk.

Winners of the 5K are as follows:

1st - Veronica Ohler
2nd - Josh McCain
3rd - Derek White
4th - Debby Aylesworth
5th - Sallie Tschantz
6th - Heather Murphy
7th - Amanda Doherty

Kiddie Tractor Pull

A Kiddie Tractor Pull was one of the highlights of the day. Kids were divided into three classes for the competition and those class winners were:

Lightweight Division

1st - Karson Presswood
2nd - Jesse Call
3rd - Wyatt Stoll

Medium Weight Division

1st - Eva Leonard
2nd - Brantley Conrady
3rd - Elyssa Marten

Heavy Weight Division

1st - Ryder Conrady
2nd - Karson Wilham
3rd - Aaron Volle

Bake-Off

Amy Dyer was named the Fall Festival Grand Champion Baker.

At the bake-off competition a new tradition may have been started, quite on the impulse. When the pie competition was over, the audience suggested that the winning pie be auctioned off on the spot, with the proceeds going to the Community Pride program. Organizers were happy to oblige!

Other bake-off winners included:

Cookies ~ Sandy Remmert (Double Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies)
Cupcakes ~ Amy Dyer (Caramel Apple Cupcakes)

Chili Cook-off

Winners of the chili cook-off held on Saturday:

1st - Traci Hawk
2nd - Hillary Cherry
3rd - Sue Bensko
People's Choice - Hillary Cherry

Parade

Those who attend the parade every year, may have gotten a bit of a surprise. The parade route normally comes into the heart of town from the south on Washington Street. This year, organizers decided to reverse the direction. So the parade came onto the Mount Pulaski Courthouse Square from the north on Washington Street. It was a nice change of pace for parade goers, and for those snapping pictures, a real blessing!

The fall festival and parade theme was “Celebrate Every Day.” The theme reflected happiness and the entries in the parade exuded the same. Among the entries were the Grand Marshal – Teena Lowery, Logan County Fair Royalty, Mount Pulaski Festival Royalty, plenty of fire trucks, representation from the Mount Pulaski schools with bands, cheerleaders, school clubs and more, entries by local organizations and businesses and much more.

Winning float entries:

1st - Pizza Man
2nd - Girl Scouts
3rd - Hilltop Club

Also throughout the weekend, the Mount Pulaski Courthouse was open with visitors welcomed by Courthouse Director Barbara Stroud-Borth and courthouse volunteers. Abraham Lincoln was on hand on Saturday and visited with many people. He was even snagged in a selfie with Teena Lowery, and caught grabbing a quick bite to eat at one of the food vendors set up on the square on Friday.

The beer tent was popular on Friday night, and on Saturday the annual car show got a lot of attention, as did the petting zoo. At the petting zoo a baby kangaroo was the star of the show for many of the children. There were also inflatables and rides for the kids, and flea market-style vendors for the grown-ups.

Car Show

Car Classes

Special Interest - Josh Bard
Stock (any year) - Kyle Przykopanski
30-49 - Steve Evans
50-69 - Betty Hite
70-89 - Mike "Loopy" Galvin
90-present - Terry and Sharon Pearson
Daily Driver - Caleb Przykopanski

Bike Class

Any Make Any Model - Ryan Jason

Special Awards Car

Best Paint - Mike "Loopy" Galvin
Best Engine - Steve Evans
Best Interior - Bill Kaesebier

Special Awards Bike

Best Paint - Doug Smock
Best Engine - Max Van Rheeden

On both days, Mother Nature cooperated nicely, and though it was warm on Saturday there was a good breeze in the shady areas, and lots of people took advantage of the trees on the courthouse lawn.

Congratulations to the Festival Committee for another great festival weekend in Mount Pulaski.

[Nila Smith and Teena Lowery]