Lambert Days 2013 includes fireworks

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

OHIO CITY — Those anticipating this year’s Lambert Days celebration in Ohio City have only one more day to wait until festivities begin.

The annual festival honors former Ohio City resident John W. Lambert, an American automotive pioneer, inventor and automobile manufacturer. According to automobile historians, the Buckeye gasoline buggy, or Lambert gasoline buggy, was the first practical gasoline automobile available for sale in America. Lambert made America’s first such automobile in 1891, according to an extensive study by auto historian L. Scott Bailey.

Lambert successfully tested his “horseless carriage” in January 1891 inside an 80-foot-long farm implement showroom he owned in Ohio City. The three-wheel surrey-top automobile had a single-cylinder, four-stroke engine and had large rear wheels. It seated just one person.

Legend also has it that Lambert was involved in the first automobile accident in America when he crashed his new vehicle while driving it in Ohio City.

Organizers say this year’s Lambert Days event is bigger than ever, with a fireworks show planned on top of softball and Wiffleball tournaments, live bands, the annual Lambert Days Parade and a display of antique Lambert cars.

The festival unofficially begins Thursday at 7 p.m. with the Lambert Days Pageant. 2012 Lambert Days Queen Abbi Marbaugh will be on hand to crown her successor, who will also receive a cash prize of $200. Lambert Days princesses will compete for a $50 prize. Cake and ice cream will follow the pageant.

Other Lambert Days events include a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament, Monte Carlo Night, kids’ games, a Wiffleball Home Run Derby and tournament, a show by ATV daredevil Henry “the Pit Bull” Rife, a flea market and craft show, a softball tourney, Bingo, a hog roast dinner, and cornhole tournament.

The festival officially begins at 5 p.m. Friday, July 19, with a flag-raising ceremony conducted by Harvey Lewis Post 346 of the American Legion. A steak dinner will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, while kids games will begin at 5 that evening, along with the Wiffleball Home Run Derby at 5:30 p.m. The Texas Hold ‘Em tourney begins at 7 p.m., while judging of autos in the Lambert Days Cruise-In will start at 8 that evening. Henry Rife’s ATV daredevil show will start at 9 p.m., while Bad Attitude will also perform, starting at 9.

The fireworks show is slated to begin at 10:15 p.m. Friday, while kids can see a movie under the stars, starting at dusk.

Saturday’s activities include a men’s slo-pitch softball tournament, starting at 8 a.m., a coed volleyball tourney, starting at 9 a.m., and the Wiffleball tourney, which begins at 10 Saturday morning.

Kids’ games open at 11 a.m., while registration for the cornhole tournament begins at noon, with the tourney starting at 1 that afternoon. A hog roast dinner will start at 4 p.m. Saturday, while Bingo runs from 5-8 p.m. A dance featuring the popular area group Boomswang will start at 9 p.m., and kids can view a movie under the stars, starting at dusk.

On Sunday, activities include a flea market, gift baskets and a raffle, and community garage sales. The softball tourney continues, starting at 9 a.m., while a chicken barbecue (carryout available) will begin at 11 that morning, with easy listening provided by Triad.

Kids’ games open at noon, with registration and lineup for the Lambert Days Parade starting at 1:45 p.m. The parade will begin at 4 p.m., with judging at the Community Building, along with a number of prize drawings (click here for a Lambert Days brochure).