By Timothy Kays
The place to be in Williams County over the weekend of August 3 and 4 was Edon where the annual Edon Days celebration was in high gear.
Edon Days started off bright and early on the morning of August 3 with the Fireman’s Breakfast at the new Edon Fire Hall. The Downtown District was jumping with sidewalk sales and crafts, while Walz Park was abuzz with softball tournaments that ran the entire day.
The Edon Church of Christ and the St. Peters Church were active, hosting free kids games and inflatables, and a bake sale, respectively. The Edon Music Boosters ran dual fundraisers at the old fire hall with a simultaneous bake sale and mattress sale.
The parade was a reflection of everything surrounding the Hometown Spirit theme. It kicked off at 1:00 and ran its usual course from the Edon School, east down West Indiana Street, then turning north on Michigan Street.
The Bike and Car Cruise-In was held at Baker Park from 5:00 until 7:00. When the 7:00 hour came, the Tara Renee Band took the stage at Baker Park, while just south of town, the Florence Township Fire Department hosted the annual Truck Pull competition.
On August 4, the activities for the weekend came to a close with a co-ed sand volleyball tournament at Walz Park, while over at the school a 3 on 3 basketball tournament kicked off at high noon. The kids were not left out of the fun, as the annual Edon days Fishing Derby took place back at the Walz Park Pond, with the first casts coming at 2:00. Unlike last year, Mother Nature was in complete cooperation with all of the events. There was indeed fun for every age group at every corner of the village.
“I thought it went pretty well,” said Spencer Kaiser of the Edon Chamber of Commerce. “We had a couple activities that were at the same time, but I think there was enough people that they could go to both activities, so it worked out pretty well. The thing I likes was we had people at the concert that may not have been around for a while. They come back one weekend a year, and they just kind of take off where they were before they left. Nobody’s really a stranger.”
“The concert thing we do,” Spencer continued, “…I think this is only the second year, the second or third year. Every year it seems to go pretty well, and everybody seems to enjoy it. The Tara Renee Band, I thought they did a pretty good job. You know, she had a wireless mic, so she was able to engage the crowd. Obviously, we sold alcohol, but it was in a confined area. Everybody took care of themselves, and I don’t think they had one issue the whole weekend that was anything law enforcement related.”
Looking at the ‘Hometown Spirit’ theme and how it fit in with the 2019 Edon Days celebration, Spencer said, “I think it just kind of shows the people that we have in the community. I met a couple people I’d never known before, they seemed to welcome me with open arms. You know, there’s no enemies in the festivities, or just overall in general. Today, (Sunday August 4) we had a couple things going on. We had the Fishing Derby; I think there was 65 kids there. They all seemed to enjoy, and want to do it next year. There was no, ‘Oh, we’ve got to watch out next year for this, this or this.’ Everything seemed to go pretty well with no major issues.”
Timothy can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com