Adrianne Brooks, left, and Travis Marrow dressed as potato heads for the Edmore Potato Festival during Saturday’s parade down Main Street. This year’s festival honored Elaine Leak, an active member of the community lovingly known as “Mrs. Potato Head,” who also wore a potato head costume to past festivals. — DN Photo | Emilee Owens
EDMORE — Hundreds of people gathered in Edmore over the weekend to participate in the town’s annual Potato Fest.
Festival events began Thursday evening with the Miss Potato Festival pageant and continued through Sunday, concluding with Music in the Park and an ice cream social.
Saturday afternoon brought a lot of people downtown and there was something for festival goers of all ages: bounce houses and inflatable water balls for the kids to enjoy, a car show, a tractor display, a cornhole tournament with benefits for Special Olympics Michigan, a potato. cuisine and much more while taking place in the heart of the village.
Party Committee Chair Nicole Hadley was excited about the festival’s turnout.
“Everywhere I looked today, there were people and it looked like people were having fun. And that’s all that matters to me,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be flooded with a lot of people. I think we had good numbers, good turnout.”
Hadley said the parade was bigger than it has been in recent years, and she was excited to see local makers get involved in the parade as well.
“Ryan’s Equipment and A&O Forklift/Hummerbee … both put on decent-sized shows,” Hadley said. “Hummerbee actually came and … demoed their product this morning and did some wagon rides with kids.”
Hadley said it was “really cool” to see some of the products that A&O Forklift manufactures in Edmore.
“People don’t know about it, so it’s great to be able to see some of the equipment that’s being made in our industrial park that people wouldn’t know about because it’s something that’s not used on a daily basis.”
There have been some changes the festival committee has made this year, such as moving the tractor show to the morning this year, which had been held on Saturday afternoon in previous years.
Hadley is excited to see what future events bring and hopes that people in the community will only continue to get more involved.
“We’re looking to do small, small-town things that people can afford, can enjoy doing, that bring the community together,” he said.
The committee as it stands now, Hadley said, is in its third year running the show at the festival, and they’re eager to make the festival a fun place for everyone.
“We are still learning. We’re still trying to process what’s good, what works and what doesn’t,” he said.
Seeing people milling around Main Street after Saturday’s parade at 3pm was a sign to Hadley that things were going well.
A popular event Saturday afternoon was a magic show performed by Benton Harbor comedy magician John Dudley. He delighted the crowd for nearly an hour during his 4pm show on Main Street.
“We always have fun,” he said.
Dudley said he is happy to receive more requests to perform at festivals and the like this summer, as his performance schedule was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is his second time performing at the Edmore Potato Festival.
