POLAND — The Celebrate Poland Fall Festival will return Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Poland Village Hall.
What took place as a temporary solution to the 2021 Celebrate Poland event will also be an annual event, according to Cindy Best of the Celebrate Poland committee.
Celebrate Poland marked its 13th year in 2019. At the time it was unknown what the future held, but the pandemic hit in early 2020 and general events, including Celebrate Poland, were canceled that year.
The start of 2021 brought uncertainty, and as the pandemic began to subside, there was insufficient time to organize the two-day event. Not wanting to give up and hoping to raise funds for this year’s event, Best said the decision was made to host a fall festival. The participation was great and the commission decided to keep this event.
“This is the first year we’ve had both,” Best said.
In June, Celebrate Poland returned and Best said it was “probably the most successful event we’ve had in all these years. The weather had something to do with the success, but I also think everyone was ready for have fun”.
He said the June event is expensive, at about $45,000.
“We hope to use the fall event to raise some funds,” he said. “So we hope people will look for our donation boxes and enter some of the contests. We want everyone to have a great time, but to remember we’re trying to raise funds for the big event in June.”
Best said it’s been a challenge to plan another big event so close to the June event, but he has a 13-person committee he’s thankful for. He also thanks those who step forward to volunteer at the festival.
The festival setup is in the same area as Celebrate Poland, but will feature many autumn-related competitions.
“We have so many wonderful things planned,” Best said. “Of course, there will be bounce houses, food vendors, and our market craft show. We also have a dog costume contest with prizes. This contest has a $10 entry fee, as it is one of our fundraisers.”
She said the event will also feature a pumpkin decorating contest, Stiltz and Hoops with Brittney, cookie decorating, the Great Poland Bake-off for kids and adults (judged separately with the theme of Everything Apple), a parade led by Cinderella and Spider-Man, and the band Vegas playing at 3 p.m
The Polish Historical Society will be participating in the historical society tent near the town hall. It will offer walking tours of historic South Main Street.
Children will be encouraged to dress up and participate in the parade that starts at 4 p.m.
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