Holmes Antique Festival introduces new events
The Holmes County Antique Festival queen and princess contest has been around for decades. This year’s event Oct. 4-6 will add plenty of new events to the weekend’s festivities.
Now in its 62nd year, the Holmes County Antique Festival has churned out a slate of activities that have remained largely unchanged over the past couple of decades.
This year, in order to spice things up, the Antique Festival Committee decided to introduce several new activities for its event that will take place Oct. 4-6.
“We’ve got a lot of new and exciting things happening,” committee member Keri Rodhe said. “We wanted to add some fresh new things to the weekend that will hopefully be a lot of fun for everyone.”
The first will come Friday, Oct. 4 with Holmes County Trivia at American Hall from 6:30-8 p.m.
“Trivia will be hosted by Madeline DeWitt,” Rodhe said. “It’s all things Holmes County so it should be a fun challenge for locals. People can have some dinner and pop in and enjoy some trivia.”
On Saturday the day will begin with the Farm Bureau Passport Thru Holmes County Port Washington Trail.
The passport program will start at Rodhe’s Marketplace beginning at 8 a.m. and will be available for touring through 3 p.m. Participants can stop in anytime during the morning hours to pick up their packet and begin the tour, which will make stops all along Port Washington Road.
“There are six stops starting at Rodhe’s, and it does take a couple of hours if visitors stop everywhere. People can do it on their own, or they can pay to participate in the prize portion of the event.”
The Farm Bureau will host the event as a fundraiser for its Harvest for Hunger campaign.
Another event that will take place Saturday and Sunday will be the “Holmes County History & Collections Exhibit” in American Hall, with the showcase open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
The display will feature plenty of collectibles and unique collections on display. It also will be a time for storytelling about many of the collectibles. The collections won’t be for sale, just for display.
“We’ve invited a lot of people with some unique collections, and every half-hour someone new will come in and present some type of historical moment or telling stories about Holmes County.”
The list will include everything from Killbuck history to paranormal, the Holmes County bicentennial, Millersburg Glass and more.
Saturday also will feature a new addition in the Touch-a-Truck from 2-4 p.m. at Millersburg Elementary parking lot. There will be all types of big rigs, emergency vehicles, tractors and more available for kids to explore.
“These are always exciting for kids,” Rodhe said. “We’ve got a lot of neat vehicles coming in.”
There also will be a scavenger hunt throughout the Historic Downtown Millersburg business area, with participants searching for small stickers on 12 business windows in the downtown area. Participants will match each different sticker symbol with the corresponding business and turn them in.
Locating them and turning them in at the souvenir stand will result in receiving a coupon good for one of the participating businesses.
Locate them all and return the form and there will be a drawing for some Antique Festival prizes.
“We’ve actually extended that, and people can do it all week leading up to the festival,” Rodhe said.
Forms can be picked up prior to the event at Rodhe’s or at the souvenir stand during the festival.
Another new feature will be a carousel located on the south side of the courthouse, where kids and adults can ride for free.
As for the rest of the lineup, plenty of time-honored favorites will return.
The antique market on South Monroe and Court streets and the arts and crafts market located on the courthouse lawn will both be open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Darb Snyder Memorial Antique & Classic Car Show will take place Saturday from noon to 3:30 p.m. in the CSB parking lot on North Clay Street. Saturday evening will feature the Classic Car, Fireman’s and Touch-a-Truck Parade, which will roll through Jackson Street starting at 4:30 p.m.
Sunday’s big event will feature the Antique Festival Grand Parade, which will kick off at 2 p.m., where local businesses, organizations, visiting royalty and more will stroll down Jackson Street.
The old-fashion costume contest and kids tractor pull will wrap up the festival following the parade, the costume contest taking place on the large stage on East Jackson Street following the announcement of parade winners and visiting royalty while the tractor pull will take place on North Monroe Street.
There also will be plenty of live music including Callinaw Rednecks on Friday from 6-8 p.m., the West Holmes Chamber Choir on Saturday from 11-11:45 a.m., Glenn Parks from noon to 12:45 p.m., Walhonding Rube Band from 1:30-2:30 p.m., Holmes Center for the Arts from 3-3:45 p.m., the Cedar Valley Cloggers from 5-5:45 p.m. and Lincoln Highway Bluegrass Band from 6-8 p.m.
Sunday will feature a special performance by Dueling Piano Dames.
The county also will celebrate the Holmes County bicentennial throughout the event.
For a full schedule, visit www.holmescountyantiquefestival.org.