Lincolnville Octoberfest popular with children
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
It's difficult to compete with a K-State/KU football match-up and the Eisenhower League volleyball tournament.
Those were two reasons given as to why participation in and attendance at this year's Lincolnville Octoberfest parade was less than previous years.
Festival chairman Sylvia Bailey was disappointed in the turn-out but was happy with how the day went.
"It looked like it might rain a couple of times, but it didn't, so that's good," she said. "We gave out a bunch of nice prizes, the kids had a lot of fun, and it was a great day."
She said two new events, the kiddie train and the pumpkin contest, were popular and likely will return next year.
For those who attended, temperatures were comfortable as they took in the Main Street parade, listened to musical entertainment in the park, and partook of good food.
There were 34 parade entries judged by Melvin Honeyfield and Bobbi Strait, both of Marion.
The theme prize went to the City of Lincolnville. Their float, "The Great Pumpkin Comes to Lincolnville with Charlie Brown and the Gang," invited everyone to "come on down and check out the patch in the park."
The City of Ramona took first place among the other floats. It featured scarecrows Mayor Pat Wick and her sister Jessica Gilbert being entertained by Tool-Time Tim (Steinborn) as Schroeder.
The senior citizens float featuring seniors in a pumpkin patch took second place. A U.S. Corps of Engineers/Kansas Wildlife and Parks entry featuring Neil Whitaker, Torey Hett, Marvin Peterson, and Sheriff Lee Becker in a new Boston Whaler boat received third place.
A 1923 Roadster driven by Jim Streeter received first prize in the antique vehicles category. Streeter's grandsons Kevin and Nicholas Krch of Lincolnville accompanied him. A red 1966 Mustang driven by Norman Ensz received second prize.
Two clowns, Colors and Rainbow, received first prize in the children's category. They were Ellie Miller of Lost Springs and Genesis Rudolph of Lincolnville. A Pilsen State Bank entry featuring the Kurt Spachek children won second prize.
The only representation of Centre High School was the class of 1967, which went through the parade as part of their 40th anniversary reunion.
A large number of people including several adults spent an hour or two carving and decorating pumpkins for the pumpkin contest. According to assistant Barb Kaiser, it took three tables to hold all the entries.
Winners were Jenna Beneke, Shania Svitak, Denise Klein, Abigail Svoboda, and Braden Pagenkopf.
