NORTH SALEM — For 35 years now, this community has closed out the unofficial end to summer with a bang.
Labor Day Weekend marked the 35th annual Old Fashion Days Festival, featuring three days of food, crafts, entertainment, and exhibitions. It's unquestionably the town's largest annual event.
"This is a great festival," said Roger Ward, a festival organizer who also serves as announcer for the parade. "It's got a great heritage. As I talk to people about it around the community, anyone that has ever been here has remembered it and always returned."
Ward has served on Old Fashion Days' committee for 18 years now.
"People who were kids when the festival began are now leading it," he said. "They're proud to represent the community they grew up in. Our motto is this is a great place to raise children. We're committed to that concept. This is a town of family values and a genuine concern to preserve those."
It's difficult to estimate how many people crowd into the town's Main Street to look at all the crafts and vendors and shop in the antique stores.
"I've heard some really wild numbers about how many people we have here," Ward said.
General estimates are that between 20,000 and 30,000 people visit Old Fashion Days over the entire weekend. About 5,000 people line Main Street to watch the county's largest parade on Saturday morning. Warren Moreland, a military veteran and longtime member of the community, served as the Grand Marshal. His son David loaned an announcing stand for Ward to use during the parade. It's that kind of gesture that Ward says makes Old Fashion Days go so well.
"All aspects and facets of our community blend to make this a success," he said.
Other highlights included a presentation by Marion Frank Walker, who fought at Iwo Jima in World War II, and a pet parade.
"You can't wipe the smiles off people's faces when they see that," Ward said of the latter.
Blues musician Max Allen, a native of Hendricks County, performed on the NSSB Bandstand.
"There was no reluctance to spend the extra money to get a guy like him," Ward said.
This year's Old Fashion Days is unique in that it's also North Salem's 175th birthday. To mark the occasion, Ward led festival attendees in singing "Happy Birthday," proclamations were read by Attorney General Greg Zoeller and County Commissioner Eric Wathen, and 175 cupcakes were handed out after the parade.
"The people involved here are appreciative of the fact that they've got this milestone," Ward said.
He continues to be pleased with the event's enduring success, thanks to a community that comes together to make it so.
"There are guys who disagree with this or that," Ward said. "But when it comes to Old Fashioned Days, they forget all that and work together to make the festival great."
wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com
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