By Charlotte Caldwell
[email protected]

FORT LORAMIE — The 41st Lake Loramie Fall Harvest Festival kicks off Friday, Sept. 15, and continues through Sunday, Sept. 17, with plenty of entertainment and kids activities each day.

The fun starts on Friday at 4 p.m. with the flag ceremony and the national anthem. Friday’s events include a display of antique tractors, John Deere bicycles, and chainsaws. New this year, a stationary hay bailer demonstration will be held in the saw mill area along with tractor activity races, the Logs to Life Chainsaw Carvings demonstration, and work from Blacksmith Jack Howison.

For the kids, on Friday a DARE officer with the DARE mascot will be in the nature tent; an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) K-9 demonstration will be held in the playfield area; DARE officer fingerprinting will take place in the nature tent along with making a survival bracelet craft with a naturalist.

Friday’s entertainment will be the Thick & Thin Band starting at 7 p.m. followed by Rapid Fire.

The flag will be raised on Saturday at 8 a.m. and another flag ceremony will be held at noon. From 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday, the Lake Loramie Improvement Association will serve a breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits, sausage sandwiches, coffee, juice, and packaged donuts. Pam Moorman will sing the national anthem at 8:15. Other activities for the day include an antique power show; more chainsaw carvings and blacksmith work; raffle drawings and awards at the “old” nature center power show area; the bailer demonstration and tractor activity races.

Kids events on Saturday will include a new event called the Jungle Island Petting Zoo with exotic animals in a tent near the camp office/power show area all day. The DARE mascot will return to the nature tent in the morning and the ODNR K-9 demonstration in the afternoon. A tractor parade starts at 10 a.m. with Shiny Little Ponies pony rides starting at 10 a.m. and going all day in the power show area. Two puppet shows will be held throughout the day as well as a ventriloquism show and a magic show. The Shelby County Shooting Sports archery trailer will be in the playfield area in the afternoon. Kids can also make a Halloween mason jar craft with a naturalist. There will be an ADA presentation and Lucky the Clown will be twisting balloons into shapes in the evening.

Also on Saturday is the national kiddie tractor pull for age groups 3-4, 5-6, and 7-8. Registration begins at 12:30 p.m. on the north side of the shower house in the power show area and starts at 1 p.m. in the power show area.

Entertainment for Saturday on the stage will be The Senior Center Singers from 1 to 2 p.m.; North Lindsey Band from 3 to 6 p.m.; Standard Country Time Band at 5 p.m.; Fort Loramie Alumni Band at 6:30 p.m. and Forty Acre Band from 7 to 11 p.m.

Sunday starts off at the same time with the same activities. A barbeque chicken dinner will be held by the Fort Loramie Community Service Club at 10:30 a.m. This day, kids events will include a puppet show; magic show; “live” birds of prey presentation by a naturalist; a bounce house castle; and the opportunity to make a mini scarecrow craft with a naturalist.

Sunday’s entertainment will be the Fort Loramie High School Marching Band from 12:30 to 1 p.m.; the Minster High School Marching Band from 1:15 to 1:45 p.m.; and the AC Swing Band from 2 to 3:30 p.m. before the festival concludes at 4 p.m.

All weekend long, there will be arts and crafts booths, food stands, a beer garden, a mountain man encampment, and a hospitality tent to enjoy.

Many food stands will be run by local organizations as fundraisers for their groups. This will include new and returning stands like the Lake Loramie Improvement Association, Future Farmers of America, Fort Loramie Community Service Club, Houston Community Association, Shelby County Dairy Association, Houston Congregational Christian Church, and Kona Ice for Mercy Mission House, as well as Cumberland Kettle Corn, Grandma Moses Ice Cream, Chill Wagon, Egbert Concessions, Cray Cray Cajun, Taqueria Miguelitos Taco Truck, and Holy Smokes and BBQ.

Admission to the festival is free. For more information and a schedule of events, visit the Lake Loramie & Lake Loramie Improvement Association Facebook page or call Lake Loramie State Park at 937-295-3900.