(PRESS RELEASE) The 46th annual Fayette Bull Thistle Festival will be held Saturday, August 6, 2022, in the Normal Grove Park located at N Eagle St in Fayette, OH.
This year we start off the day with a breakfast offered by Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. Then the parade follows up at 11a.m. It runs from S Fayette ST at Gambler Rd and proceeds North through town.
This year’s Bull Thistle festival King & Queen are Mike Slyker & Charity “Wilson” Slyker, they have been proud residents of Fayette, Ohio for over 50 years.
They married in 1970 and decided to put down roots in Fayette where they have lived, worked and raised their family ever since.
Mike began his working career at Fayette Manufacturing, this was the factory that was founded by Charity’s Grandfather Steve Sarnac in the 1940’s.
Charity began her career at Peters Stamping, then moved to Fayette Tubular Products for the next 25 years.
They raised their 3 daughters Tami (Slyker) O’Brien, Keara (Slyker) Bingman and Lindsey (Slyker) Gigax all of whom attended & graduated from Fayette High School.
Their girls were involved in many arts, sports & community activities which Mike and Charity proudly supported year after year.
Later in life they opened a successful downtown Fayette storefront with several business ventures; C & M Multi-Tasking, Video’s To Go and a tanning studio.
Today they are both retired from Fulton County Health Center and enjoy working in their garden, yard, spending time with their 6 Grandchildren and extended family. They are thrilled to have been recognized and given this honor!
Our Bull Thistle Prince is Dalton Martin. He is the 9-year-old son of Wes & Julianne Martin. He’s going into the fourth grade and is very active in anything that includes the outdoors, especially farming with Dad and his grandpas and mowing grass.
Dalton is in his first year of 4-H with Franklin Blue Ribbons where he’s taking a dairy heifer project. He’s participated in basketball, soccer, mini milers, and 10U baseball.
The Bull Thistle Princess is Everleigh Miller. She’s the 10-year-old daughter of Dana Miller and Brittany Theis. She’s going into the fifth grade. She loves all animals, but foxes are her favorite.
She enjoys spending time with her friends and cousins and going camping. She also loves going to the lake and kayaking. Everleigh has played softball and basketball.
Up at the park following the parade, you will find lots of food and craft vendors, including Port A Pit chicken BBQ, B&E’s Lemonade, Pence’s, Aqua Ice, and the concession stand will have burgers, sausage sandwiches and pulled pork.
We’ll be having entertainment by Renegade Lemonade Band and Heidi Paxton. You’ll want to be sure to bring your Bull Thistles to be judged! Bring them early and the judging is at 12:30.
There will also be a Chinese Auction with donated items from our gracious craft vendors, stop by the Bull Thistle booth to get your tickets to win!
There will also be the sand volleyball, CO-ED softball, kids’ carnival games, pedal tractor pull and more!
A new event being added to the day is the Party in the Park with a beer tent starting at 6 p.m.-10 p.m. with entertainment provided by Back At It Band.
Closing out the day will be the Fireworks provided by Phantom Fireworks. They will again be at the Fayette Local School grounds starting about 10 p.m.
Please see Fayette’s Royal Bull Thistle Arts Festival page on Facebook or check out the website at bullthistlefestival.org for more information.