By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
The Delta Chicken Festival returned to the Village of Delta this past weekend. Festivities began on Thursday, July 11th. The midway opened with rides at 5:00 p.m. along with the chicken carry-out / midway dinner. The dinners were joined by the milkshake and hamburger stand.
On Friday, July 12th, festivities once again began at 5:00 p.m. with the opening of the midway and rides. Chicken dinners, the milkshake stand, and hamburger stand began at the same time, with bingo following at 5:30 p.m. and the Nate Parsons 3v3 Basketball Tournament starting at 5:45 p.m.
At 7:00 p.m. the Delta High School Marching Band performed in the Midway, followed by a fireworks show at 10:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 13th, saw festivities begin at 8:00 a.m. with the Delta Chicken 5K Run. 9:00 a.m. brought in the Dreamers Car Club Annual Car, Truck, and Motorcycle show, followed by a parade at 11:00 a.m.
Chicken dinners followed directly after, along with the opening of the midway, concessions and rides. Events held later in the day included a corn hole tournament, 3v3 soccer tournament, alumni baseball game and bingo.
This year was a good year for the festival. More food vendors were brought in than ever before and a new ride vendor was introduced.
This was also the second year the festival has featured a drive through for the chicken dinners, and the second year the festival began on Thursday and ran through Saturday.
Moving back to the chicken dinners, 700 were sold on Thursday, along with another 1,000 on Friday and around the same on Saturday.
The festival also saw more donations from local businesses than ever before as well. It is also close to hitting the huge milestone of becoming 70 years old, due to the event beginning back in 1956. It was most definitely a good weekend for all down at the Delta Chicken Fest.