Want to go?
WHAT: Cold Creek Festival
WHEN: July 20-22
WHERE: Main St., Castalia
COST: Free
INFO: http://www.facebook.com/coldcree...
Summertime invariably feels like, well, summertime this year in Castalia with the free Cold Creek Festival returning after a year off. This year’s fun takes place July 20 through 22 on Main Street in Castalia.
“It started in 1976 for the bicentennial celebration,” said Cold Creek Festival President Paul Schoenegge, who teaches Spanish at Margaretta High School. “There have been two stoppages, one in 1986 and one last year. But overall the festival allows the community to get together and people who graduated come back and visit.”
This year, folks attending the Cold Creek Festival, which averages audiences in the 10,000 range all three days, will be enjoying plenty of music on the portable stage with The Earthquakers on July 20 and Wally and the Beavs on July 21. In fact, something new in 2012 is the addition of a live band to end the festival. That honor goes to The Sewing Circle on July 22.
“After the antique car parade I wanted to have the people come up and listen to some music because that’s when we do the drawing for the raffles and that stuff,” Schoenegge said. “That way they could still have a little bit of enjoyment up there and still keep the people around until 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.”
One popular carnival amenity that Cold Creek Festival organizers are shying away from is the idea of amusement rides. It turns out the insurance is through the roof. After all, fear of debt is what cancelled last year’s affair.
Despite the lack of any extreme thrills, athletes are encouraged to partake in the 5K run, while kids have a special 1K run, bike parade, pet parade and children’s Olympics. Other highlights of the event that speak to the uniqueness of the Cold Creek Festival include a popular softball tournament with roughly a dozen teams, bed races and an animal presentation.
“It’s really a small-time festival, where maybe you come out and spend a little bit of time in a small community like Castalia,” Schoenegge said. “The local organizations like the Lions [Club] and the others run concessions raising money for scholarships to go right back into the community.”
Speaking to the hometown aspect of the Cold Creek Festival, the event boasts a baking contest on July 21 that is straight out of Mayberry with winners receiving $25 for first place, $15 for second place and $10 for third place.
“This year it’s cookies, so everybody is bringing up their favorite cookies,” Schoenegge said. “My sister and my mom are bringing some up. They’re the experts on the cookies.”
Finally, when it comes to cookies, what is Schoenegge an expert about?
He laughed, “Well, I’m the expert at eating them.”
For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/coldcreekfestival
