Russia Homecoming returns Labor Day weekend

By Charlotte Caldwell
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RUSSIA – The Russia Homecoming Festival at St. Remy Catholic Church at 101 St. Remy St. in Russia returns with three days of activities on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1-3.

On Friday at 6 p.m., the lunch stand opens with a limited menu as well as the beer stand with Moeller Brew Barn Craft Beer on tap. Queen of Hearts starts at 6:30 p.m. with ticket sales between 6:30 and 8:45 p.m. The drawing will start at 9 p.m. and no tickets will be sold after the drawing starts. 75% of the proceeds will go to the winner and 25% will go to St. Remy Church. The winner must be present to win. One ticket is $5 and five tickets are $20. Texas Hold ‘Em starts at 6:45 p.m. in the entertainment tent and participants can sign up 30 minutes beforehand. The 50/50 drawing will be held at 10 p.m.

On Saturday, the co-ed volleyball tournament kicks off the day at 8 a.m. in the park volleyball court. The elementary corn hole tournament for grades 3-6 starts at 1 p.m. with sign-up 30 minutes before east of St. Remy Hall. Outdoor mass at the grotto begins at 4:30 p.m. Lunch and beer stands open at 5 p.m. and all rides – provided by Bortner Shows Midway of Columbiana – will be in operation from 5:30-11 p.m. For rides, pre-sale wristbands will be sold for $15 per day at Buschur’s Market until Saturday at noon. Individual ride tickets and wristbands will be sold at the festival for $20 per day. Wristbands are good all day.

The early bird attendance drawing will start at 6:30 p.m. and the kids’ straw pile hunt begins at 7 p.m. with sign-up 10 minutes before the event east of the fish pond.

The entertainment for the night includes the Russia High School band performing at 6 p.m. with new director Lydia Stricker along with Feel ‘N Lucky the Clown from 6-8:30 p.m. North Star-based music group The Hammer Jockeys will take the stage in the entertainment tent at 7:30 p.m. performing country, Americana and rock songs. Also at 7:30 will be the start of turtle races, which will run every hour until 11:30. The youth Euchre tournament will start at 8 p.m. in the youth game tent. The night ends with the night owl attendance drawing at 10 p.m. and the 50/50 drawing at 10:30 p.m.

Sunday starts with the Running Raider 5k at 9 a.m. followed by the one-mile fun run at 9:45. The Russia alumni baseball game will be held at the high school diamond at 11 a.m. At noon, lunch and beer stands open. The outdoor dodgeball tournament begins then as well with age groups 13 and under, 14-17, 18-30 and 30 and over. Sign-up starts at 11:30 a.m. east of St. Remy Hall. The diaper derby also starts then, where babies will compete against each other to prove how fast they can crawl to mom and dad. Sign-up will be 10 minutes prior to the event at the entertainment tent.

The free kiddie tractor pull starts at 1 p.m. for age groups 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10. Sign-ups will be at noon on St. Remy Street. The Name That Tune and Artist contest also will be held at 1 p.m. in the entertainment tent with a first-place prize of $200 and a runner-up prize of $100. The adult cornhole tournament commences at 2 p.m. with sign-ups taking place at the beer stand. Rides will be open from 2-10 p.m. and ice cream opens at 2 p.m. along with the junior firefighter obstacle course challenge.

At 3 p.m., blackjack, dice game, fish pond and raffle tables open along with BBQ chicken dinners until they’re sold out. CareFlight will do a fly-in and demonstration at 3. At 4 p.m., the lip sync contest will be held in the entertainment tent. Turtle races will run every hour from 5:30-11:30. The junior high/high school cornhole tournament starts at 6:30 p.m. with sign-ups at the beer stand. The raffle table drawing will be held at 9 and the 50/50 drawing will be held at 10:30.

Crazy Craig Juggling kicks off Sunday’s entertainment at 4:30 p.m. followed by acoustic music by Danny Schneible at 6 p.m. Square dancing led by Carson Regula will start at 7:30 p.m. and old and new country music performed by Haywired based in Wapakoneta will start at 8 p.m., all in the entertainment tent.

For more information, visit the Russia Homecoming website at www.russiahomecoming.com.