{"id":80395,"date":"2016-09-30T07:47:49","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T12:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=80395"},"modified":"2016-10-01T08:12:17","modified_gmt":"2016-10-01T13:12:17","slug":"2016-harvest-moon-fest-moves-to-main-adds-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/09\/30\/2016-harvest-moon-fest-moves-to-main-adds-activities\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Harvest Moon Fest adds activities"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s inaugural revamping of the downtown Harvest Moon Festival continues this Saturday with the return of outhouse races and a chili cook-off among the scheduled activities.<\/p>\n

\"Shown
Shown is the Wallace Plumbing entry from the 2015 Harvest Moon Festival’s inaugural Outhouse Races.<\/strong> (VW independent file photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Adam Ries, program manager for downtown development group Main Street Van Wert, said the event should be even more fun than last year\u2019s popular celebration.<\/p>\n

Ries said this year\u2019s festival will be held in the 100 block of East Main Street, rather than on Central Avenue, as was the case last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMain Street will be closed most of the day,\u201d the MSVW program manager said, noting\u00a0that, in addition to the Outhouse Races being held along Main Street, several other\u00a0activities will be centered around the Van Wert County Courthouse.<\/p>\n

Those activities include the\u00a0chili cook-off from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.; a cornhole tournament that will begin at noon with registration, while play will start at 1 p.m. and continue until all teams have competed.<\/p>\n

There will be a number of children\u2019s games and contests, starting at noon and running through 3 p.m. Saturday, while the Outhouse Races will begin at 1 p.m., Ries said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the four \u201cinaugural\u201d Outhouse Race teams from last year — Alexander & Bebout, Straley Realty, Truly D\u2019Vine, and Wallace Plumbing — are back this year, as well as several more teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, we have seven entries for sure, with a couple more possible if they can get their outhouses built by then,\u201d he noted. \u201cI\u2019m excited because that\u2019s nearly double the number we had last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the competition to be double-elimination, Ries said outhouse racing should run most of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

In addition to some unique designs, he added that this year\u2019s outhouse races will also feature costumes and much more. Ries said the races will be held, rain or shine, as long as the weather doesn\u2019t become severe.<\/p>\n

Following the races, musical group The Jug Puffers will perform in front of the courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey call themselves \u2018mountain country\u2019,\u201d Ries said, noting that the group plays a mix of folk and country music.<\/p>\n

In addition to chili, Gibsons BBQ will also be at the festival to provide their popular barbecue products. The Van Wert Humane Society will also have an information booth, as well as some pets for adoption. A Dog Agility Course will also be set up on Main Street for local canines.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you can have chili for lunch and barbecue for supper, or vice versa,\u201d Ries said.<\/p>\n

The event will also include a beer tent, which will be set up in the stone lot behind the Garden of the Senses,\u00a0he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot more fun to plan this year,\u201d Ries said, mostly, he added, because of the great committee\u00a0helping him organize the event, as well as 2016 sponsors.<\/p>\n

Gold Sponsors include Harvest the Wind and Alexander & Bebout, while Silver Sponsors are Lee Kinstle\u2019s GM Sales & Service, Straley Realty, Wallace Plumbing, Ink Again, and National Door & Trim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Last year\u2019s inaugural revamping of the downtown Harvest Moon Festival continues this Saturday with the return of outhouse races and a chili cook-off among the scheduled activities. Adam Ries, program manager for downtown development group Main Street Van Wert, said the event should be even more fun than last year\u2019s popular celebration. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 11:17:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}