GREENFIELD — It was a team effort for a group of volunteers from Greenfield Church. Some donated corn. Others grabbed flowers, foliage and rocks to place around a tree looming over “the old swimmin’ hole.”
Piece-by-piece, the church’s parade float came together to bring James Whitcomb Riley’s poem “The Old Swimmin’ Hole” — the theme for this year’s Riley Festival — to life Saturday morning. The church was one of 62 area organizations, businesses, political candidates and other civic groups participating in the parade, the centerpiece of the 50th festival.
Large crowds attended the festival each day, and — except for a brief period of rain on Sunday — vendors reported a brisk business. For some, it was their best Riley Festival ever, they said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
An estimate of attendance is difficult because the festival doesn’t charge admission, but attendance likely was in the tens of thousands, as in previous years when the weather has cooperated. Some vendors even reportedly ran out of food. The festival began on Thursday, Oct. 3, and ended at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6.
The annual parade ushered in the busiest time for the festival on Saturday. While the groups trekked down Broadway and Main Streets, hundreds of spectators stood and sat along the nearly mile-long route. Many children eagerly ran to grab candy thrown from passing floats to the side of the street
Before the more than hour-long parade began, the parade’s participants waited in the parking lot at Greenfield-Central High School, putting the finishing touches on their floats.
Matt Miles, a volunteer with Greenfield Church, located on East Main Street, said it took about a week to gather up all their supplies to create the church’s parade float. In addition to plants, volunteers brought together fishing poles, plastic frogs and turtles, a bench, and a giant tarp to depict the “swimmin’ hole.”
Greenfield Church hasn’t participated in the parade for a few years, Miles said. But for three years in a row several years back, its floats placed third, second and first place. The parade was also a chance for the church to show off its van, which they drive around town as a way to do community outreach.
“Everything just kind of came together,” Miles said.
Clipboard in hand, Anita Turner, a board member for the Riley Festival, walked around to judge each float Saturday morning. She assessed the floats based on how they depicted the festival theme. The parade organizers give out three awards in three categories: youth, adult and commercial, Turner said.
Results of the parade judging were not available Monday.
A group from Twisted Foundation, a nonprofit based in Greenfield, drove its float as well as several custom cars in the parade as a way to show off the organization’s annual holiday toy drive. They’re a group of car enthusiasts who collect toys and supplies and also raise money for area families who are struggling during the toughest times of the year: back to school and the holidays.
The organization has been fundraising for Alternatives Inc., a domestic and sexual violence agency in Anderson, for the past four years, said Lenny Thompson, one of the foundation’s leaders. Twisted Foundation’s fifth annual toy drive is set for Dec. 7 at Fortune Academy in Indianapolis, he said.
The group also had a booth set up downtown where they sold merchandise and artwork from local artists as well as painted airbrush tattoos, all to collect proceeds for the foundation.
“The car community is very, very tight and very, very giving,” Thompson said. “It’s a lot of people who look sketchy but have big hearts.”
Meanwhile, a lot of visitors appeared to have big wallets. Vendors interviewed on Sunday reported they saw some of the best business they’ve ever had at the Riley Festival.
Jamie Morris was working at the Team Image booth, where she said business was brisk. She credited the great weather.
“It’s been really good. I can’t believe how well we’ve done and up until this morning, the weather has been simply beautiful,” she said after rain moved through the area on Sunday morning.
Her booth was filled with T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and jackets for all the county high schools teams.
Around the corner from her booth, a new vendor from Indianapolis couldn’t have been more pleased. He rolled the dice and set up a booth at the Riley Festival for the first time.
Ben Reinoehl, owner of the Broad Ripple Candle Co., said he and his partner Kiersten Leigh had more patrons, ate more good food, and drank more good coffee than they ever imagined.
“We loved it here and had such a great time,” Leigh said. “We’re so happy we came and do plan to come back next year.”
Despite hearing how the weather can be iffy during the Riley Festival, Reinoehl said, things could not have been any better the first three days, and he didn’t even mind the relatively dreary weather on Sunday.
“This has been our single best sale event since we started the business back in May,” he said. “We did better here than we did at Carmel Fest; it beat Carmel Fest by a big margin.”
Their biggest seller was an apple and maple bourbon candle, formulated especially for fall.
Officials from the Greenfield Police Department said they were pleased with the way the massive crowds conducted themselves, especially in the evenings, with musical groups and spirits flowing at venues throughout.
Lieutenant C.W. Murnan of the Greenfield Police Department said this year’s festival was a good event and didn’t cause any issues they weren’t expecting.
“It’s actually been a really good, smooth year,” Murnan said late Sunday afternoon. “It’s really been packed, and while we did have some parking complaints and some outside traffic issues increase, it was nothing major.”
Murnan said the flower parade on Friday and Saturday’s parade were really special and that it was great to see so many people participating and watching.
The officers and other first-responders, who also had booths set-up at the Riley Festival, said they always enjoy the event, especially getting a chance to eat some of the good food.
Some food vendors ran out of food, they said. On Sunday afternoon, Steve Gresham was grilling some pork chops and slapping fresh sauce of them for sandwiches and said his son’s business had been selling food like crazy.
“It’s been good business,” Gresham said, “This is the best year we’ve ever had here.”
