PARADE … Friday night saw a parade thrown for the Village of Pioneer’s 175th Celebration. VIEW OVER 400 PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM (PHOTOS BY ANNA WOZNIAK & FORREST R. CHURCH / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Anna Wozniak
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Northwest Ohio has been making history lately, and the Village of Pioneer is no exception.
Amidst village wide garage sales going on Friday was a blood drive, history display (provided by Mr. Richard Schmucker), Pioneer Meat Market sponsored hot dog stand (whose proceeds went to the Pioneer Library), a Pioneer Through the Ages display, a parade, beer trailer at the American Legion, John Reichle’s Jennengine, and a movie night at Crommer Park.
Saturday’s beautiful morning weather was greeted by a fireman’s breakfast, as well as both a softball and volleyball tournament.
There was a hog roast, hot dog eating contest, Dust to Dust, basketball tournament, dunk tank, book sale, corn hole, wiffle ball, homerun derby, a village talent show, Old School Band, Leather & Lace, and a dusk drone finale.
The beginning of the celebration was greeted by fine weather, with Pioneer under sunny, blue skies. Saturday night’s music and drone show were greeted with overcast clouds, and eventual rain.
That didn’t stop Pioneer from celebrating, and people watched the awesome drone show from the park, downtown, and parked cars.
They were launched from Crommer Park, which is a mile west of downtown Pioneer. The 100 drones, synchronized via computer programming, made some awesome and memorable shapes, forever raising the bar as one of the best shows seen by Northwest Ohio yet.
History has known Pioneer to be a tight knit community that values the benefits of living in a small rural village, and the Village of Pioneer’s 175th Celebration will be marked down as a time residents reserved for remembering their past while celebrating their accomplishments of the present.
SATURDAY NIGHT FUN … Saturday night was full of village festivities, with Pioneer residents gathered across downtown to celebrate this monumental occasion alongside each other.
DRONE SHOW … A wonderful and innovative alternative to fireworks, the Village of Pioneer showed once again that they are leading the way with rolling out new advancements. The show was wet, but that didn’t stop visitors from enjoying themselves as they stood in the park, around town, and sat in parked cars watching history be made.