After a two-year absence, Evansdale is hosting a revived city-wide summer festival on Saturday (July 30, 2016).

"Evansdale Community Days" is a day-long celebration that features a variety of family-friendly events. The revamped festival replaces the once-popular, weekend-long "Good Ole' Days" celebration that ended in 2013.

"Community Days" will include two major events that were part of the former festival -- a parade and the annual mud volleyball tournament, a summer tradition that continued in 2014 and 2015 despite "Good 'Ole Days" being cancelled. There will also be several free activities for children and families, along with an inaugural fireman's dance (See schedule below for time and location of events).

"We (the committee) are optimistic that the variety of events offered on Saturday will draw people to our community that may not have visited in some time," Mayor Doug Faas said. "The various locations of the events around town will give us the opportunity to showcase our city and give potential home buyers and business people a fresh look at Evansdale."

A common sight at many town festivals is fireworks, but they won't be part of "Community Days" in 2016. Faas indicated that fireworks, possibly, could be part of a bigger town celebration in the future.

"Depending on the response to this year’s events, we will be looking at expanding the activities offered next year and possibly adding another day to the celebration," the mayor said.

The city's Chamber of Commerce and volunteer firefighters association have worked together in recent months to organize the 2016 "Evansdale Community Days" celebration. Those two groups were also involved in organizing events for the former festival.

After the cancellation of  "Good 'Ole Days", Faas reached out to both groups with a goal of bringing a city-wide celebration back to Evansdale.

"I have had residents ask me during the last two years why we did not have a celebration," Faas said. "I kept talking with both groups to see if we could get together and come up with a plan to revitalize both activities and earlier this year both groups expressed an interest in bringing the activities back. They have had numerous meetings over the last three months, and decided that a one day, activity-packed event would be the best way to 'reinvent' our celebration."

Faas said a major part of the festival's reinvention was the name change, which organizers felt was a better fit for Evansdale.

"We all decided to rename the event to let the public know that there would be a new focus moving forward," he explained in an email. "We wanted to celebrate the entire “community” (East High School, Maywood, Elk Run Heights, other local towns, etc.) -- hence the new name."


"EVANSDALE COMMUNITY DAYS" SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

9 a.m.-?: Mud Volleyball Tournament
Location: Lot off Gilbert Dr., next to Community Response Center (CRC) - 911 Evans Road

9:30 a.m.: Parade (Theme - "Everyday Heroes")
Line-up: On Central Ave., East of S. Evans Road
Route: East on Central Ave., North on S. Roosevelt Road., West on Lafayette Road, South on Grand Blvd.

11 a.m.-2 p.m.: Antique/Vintage Car Show
Location: Lafayette Road Business District

11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.: Air Care Helicopter Ambulance On Display
Location: Community Response Center (CRC) - 911 S. Evans Road
*Availability will depend on patient care needs

1 p.m.-4:30 p.m.: FREE Children and Family Activities
Location: Lafayette Road Business District
* Events include balloon art, face painting, a caricature artist, Grout Museum Car and Coasters, petting zoo, and more.

1 p.m.: Kid's Parade
Location: In Front of Ted's Home & Hardware - 3550 Lafayette Road

4:30 p.m.: Judging For Annual Day-Long Barbeque Cook-Off
Location: Ted's Home & Hardware - 3550 Lafayette Road
* For additional information on individual event, CLICK HERE.

6 p.m.-10 p.m.: Youth Dance - Featuring Billy "The Kid" Fischels (DJ)
Location: Lofty's Lounge - 3480 Lafayette Road

7 p.m.-11 p.m.: 1st Annual Fireman's Dance - Featuring The Dennis Wayne Gang
Location: Community Response Center (CRC) - 911 S. Evans Road
* Refreshments will be available for purchase

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