HISTORICAL FLAVOR: New Pal Fall Festival to honor town’s past

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NEW PALESTINE — A look back at New Palestine’s history and three days of fun filled activity are all on tap at this year’s 72nd Annual New Palestine Fall Festival, organizers said.

The annual event is slated for Thursday, Sept. 9 through Saturday Sept. 11 at the New Palestine Lions Club, 5242 W, W U.S. 52, New Palestine.

While organizers say they’ll have food, music, a kids’ zone, vendors and more, they’re also celebrating the town’s 150th year of existence.

Mark Kennedy, who has helped organize the Fall Festival event for years said they hope this year’s event is bigger and better with an expanded kids’ zone they hope includes pony rides.

They’re also hoping to bring the town’s history book, which goes up to 1971, up to date, and have it republished in time for the festival.

“That is one of the projects we’re working on to celebrate the 150th year of the town,” Kennedy said. “We’re getting with a group of local historians to do that.”

This year’s parade theme will also center around the town’s 150th Anniversary, Kennedy said and the parade will be traveling on a new route thanks to the new South Hancock School District back road into and out of New Palestine High School.

They plan to use the new street off of Bittner Road that leads into the back of NPHS’s fieldhouse as their launching point, then head north on Bittner Road, turn west onto U.S. 52 (Main Street), then head south and loop back to the school’s campus off of Gem Road.

“We’ll make a big square,” Kennedy said. “For years we’ve been waiting to have some kind of access to Bittner Road and now we finally have it thanks to the school district.”

Anyone interested in being in the parade needs to start lining up behind the new fieldhouse at NPHS around 10 a.m. The parade will then kickoff heading east to west, at 11 a.m.

Organizers are also hosting a 5K walk/run Saturday, Sept. 11 that kicks off at the new Hancock Wellness Center. There is a $30 entry fee for runners and $20 entry fee for the one-mile walk. Anyone interested in signing up can go to the Lions Club’s page on Facebook and follow the links.

The festival will also be a great time to see some entertainment with organizers having county cloggers, dancers, live bands and a D.J. on hand to provide music. One of their more popular events, Purse Bingo, is on tap Thursday, Sept. 9 starting at 6 p.m. The tent for the event will open at 5:30 p.m.

Kennedy noted it’s one of their biggest attractions with hundreds of people taking part.

“We always have a lot of repeat customers coming to that,” he said. “The gals that organize it for us have it down to a science.”

While organizations in town have been hosting events on Main Street this spring and summer, including the large Independence Day celebration party back in late June, Kennedy feels people are still anxious to get back to normal and take part in all the fall activities people enjoy, and that includes the NP Fall Festival.

“This is probably our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Kennedy said. “It’s a great way to wrap up summer and come out and meet your neighbor.”

The festival was cancelled last year due to COVID and despite the number of new COVID cases increasing in the state, officials said the celebration is scheduled to go on.

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72nd Annual New Palestine Fall Festival

Thursday, Sept. 9, Friday, Sept. 10 and Saturday, Sept. 11.

Thursday Sept. 9: festival food, vendor tent, kids zone from 5 to 9 p.m. Purse bingo and raffles 6 p.m. Bingo tent opens at 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 10: festival food, vendor tent, kids’ zone from 5 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 11: parade on U.S. 52 starts at 11 a.m.; festival food, vendor tent, kids zone and live entertainment from noon to 9 p.m. New Palestine High School All School Reunion 5 p.m. to midnight.

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