By Wade Coggeshall
NORTH SALEM — Normally this community, tucked away in the northwest corner of Hendricks County, has a population of less than a thousand. But every Labor Day weekend it quintuples, courtesy of Old Fashion Days.
This year’s event, the 34th edition, drew an estimated crowd of 5,000 over three days for booths, food, rides, various forms of entertainment, and the largest parade in the county. The parade, which was Saturday morning, included floats from area organizations and antique tractors and cars. Rodger Ward, the public address announcer for the parade, has been “the guy with the hot air” for 18 years now.
“I don’t think anything’s happened in that time but that it’s gotten bigger,” he said.
Vicki Cox, the booth chair and advertising director for Old Fashion Days, said she was pleased with this year’s edition.
“Overall, I think it was a very successful year,” she said. “We didn’t have any problems other than the usual — a few cancellations and some electrical problems. But overall it was a great festival once again.”
Cox said they had a record number of entries for Monday’s 10K run and 5K walk, a total of 145. New this year was a truck pull on Saturday, which drew a better-than-expected 70 entries.
There was some rain Sunday afternoon, but overall the weather was comfortable and cooperative.
“It’s a pretty day for it, one of the better days I’ve seen,” said Leonard Basham, who had his Basham Antiques store open on one of the town’s main drags.
“We’re Hoosiers,” Ward said. “We’re not going to let a little heat or rain get in our way.”
The Old Fashion Days festival has grown in reputation over the years.
“Every space for vendors is sold out and they always come back,” Ward said. “For that reason we get the best vendors because they know this is the place to come and sell their stuff.”
Dwayne White, an assistant scoutmaster with Troop 309 out of Pittsboro, was there for the first time selling food at the festival.
“So far, so good,” White said Saturday while manning the grill. “We have a good spot, and I’m confident we’ll have a good turnout.”
Sereda Daniels of Coatesville came out to see her son drive his antique John Deere tractor in the parade. This is the third year she’s attended Old Fashion Days.
“This is a neat town,” Daniels said. “It’s clean and people-friendly, with a lot of good restaurants. It’s nice here.”
Cox and others in North Salem hope to capitalize on that sentiment. They’re already looking to next year’s Old Fashion Days event. That coincides with the town’s 175th anniversary.
“We’re hoping to have a huge celebration,” Cox said. “Hopefully we can get some new events. We’re always looking for new volunteers. That’s our main problem. We just don’t have enough volunteers to do a lot of the things we’d like to do.”
Before that, though, they’re planning the community’s first Old Fashion Christmas with the Optimist Club. Tentative dates for that are Dec. 11-12.
For additional photos of North Salem’s Old Fashion Days event, see page XXX of today’s Hendricks County Flyer or visit the website at www.flyergroup.com.
wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com
