Ohio City sets 47th annual Lambert Days

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

OHIO CITY — The village of Ohio City will again honor one of its most important residents, automotive inventor John Lambert, with its Lambert Days celebration next weekend in the village.

The 47th annual edition of the festival will be held from Thursday, July 16, through Sunday, July 19, in Ohio City. Lambert is recognized as the first American to successfully develop a gasoline-powered automobile in 1891. Lambert, who held 600 patents during his lifetime, also invented a gearless friction transmission.

The festival begins at 7 p.m. Thursday with the annual Lambert Days Pageant. The Lambert Days Queen pageant is open to girls who live in Liberty Township and have just finished grades 9-11. The Princess pageant is open to any girl in Liberty Township who has finished grades 1-3. Former queens and princesses may not enter a second time in the same age group.

This year’s Lambert Days Queen and Princess will both receive a cash prize, a crown and a basket full of gifts.

Each contestant will be judged for talent, interview question, style show, and a presentation based on the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Friday, July 17, the festival schedule begins to fill up, beginning with a Craft and Vendor Show at 3 p.m.

A steak dinner will be served, starting at 4 that afternoon (carryout available), with a flag-raising ceremony to officially open Lambert Days scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday and conducted by members of Harvey Lewis Post 346 of the American Legion.

Kids’ games will also open at 5, while a Wiffleball home run derby will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Jeff Unterbrink will entertain at 6 p.m., while an adult Wiffleball tourney and Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament will both start at 7 Friday evening.

A Lambert Days Monte Carlo Night will begin at 8 p.m. Friday, with a live band, Boomswang, to perform starting at 9 that night.

A fireworks display is scheduled for dusk on Friday.

Saturday’s Lambert Days events begin early, with a men’s slo-pitch softball tournament starting at 8 a.m. Saturday. A coed recreational volleyball tournament begins at 9 Saturday morning, with a Wiffleball tourney is slated for 10 a.m. Saturday.

Kids’ games open at 11 that morning, while registration for a cornhole tourney and a 3 on 3 basketball tourney will begin at noon on Saturday. Both of those tournaments will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday in the park.

At 4 p.m., a hog roast will be held in the park, with carryout available. Bingo will begin at 5 p.m., with music by Jarod Delgado starting at 6 p.m. and an adult Wiffleball tourney beginning at 7 that evening. At 9 p.m. Saturday, the band Evolution will perform, while a kids’ movie will begin at dusk.

Sunday’s activities start with the continuation of the men’s slo-pitch softball tournament at 9 a.m., while registration for the Lambert Days Car Show starts at 10 Sunday morning. The craft and vendor show also resumes at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Starting at 11 a.m., a chicken barbecue dinner will be served (carryout available), while the car show will start at noon, along with the resumption of kids’ games.

Judging and the awarding of prizes for the car show will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, while the lineup for the Lambert Days Parade will begin at 1:45 Sunday afternoon.

The parade, which traditionally features a large number of units, will start at 3 p.m. Sunday.