GREENFIELD — The Riley Festival is back.
Event organizers say the festival is on track to return after it was canceled last year for the first time in its 50-year history due to COVID-19.
The 51st annual festival will take place Oct. 7-10 in downtown Greenfield, with the parade taking place that Saturday.
As organizers continue to fine-tune preparations, they’re keeping a watchful eye on construction work taking place along State Road 9 and U.S. 40, whose intersection is the heart of the festival each year.
While they plan to keep the festival’s current layout for now, the footprint may have to be adjusted if construction doesn’t wrap up in time, said Riley Festival board member Nancy Alldredge.
“We’re told U.S. 40 is going to be completed by mid-September. If we get closer (to the date) and State Street is not going to open up, we’ll have to figure something out,” she said.
Repaving work is taking place along U.S. 40 through the center of the city. The work on State Road 9 — which began earlier this spring at Davis Road on the south side of Greenfield and is slowly making its way north — is much more complicated. The timetable for that work, which involves significant reconstruction, is uncertain.
In the meantime, organizers have opened vendor and parade applications online and are looking forward to welcoming thousands of guests back to Greenfield for Indiana’s largest four-day street festival.
Each year the festival takes on a theme based on one of the works by Greenfield native James Whitcomb Riley, the festival’s namesake.
“We’re sticking with the same theme we had planned for last year, which is ‘The Bumblebee,’” said Alldredge, who encourages new craft vendors to get involved in this year’s event.
The festival’s music coordinator, Tony Seiler, owner of Greenfield Music Center, has lined up a number of bands to provide live music throughout the festival.
Headliners at the Entertainment Tent on South Street will include The Wright Brothers, Indy Polkamotion, Nebo Ridge and Elvis impersonator Todd Berry. The Rock Stage in the Living Alley will feature Haley Joney, The Flying Toasters, Craig Moore and JamBox, while the Gazebo Stage on Courthouse Plaza will feature Nicole Bridgens.
Seiler said the Kid Zone will also have some great features this year, like bounce houses, pony rides and other animal attractions.
The Riley Festival isn’t the only large event set to return this year. The Hancock County 4-H Fair, which was closed to visitors in 2020, also plans a full schedule of events starting on June 18.
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The Riley Festival will take place Oct. 7-10 in downtown Greenfield.
Festival hours are:
Thursday, Oct. 7 – 5-9 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 8 – 9-9 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 9 – 9-9 p.m.
Sunday, Oct., 10 – 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Live music will also return at the festival.
ENTERTAINMENT TENT, South Street
Thursday October 7th
5-6 p.m. – Opening ceremonies
6-9 p.m. – The Wright Brothers
Friday, Oct. 8
5-630 p.m. – TBA
7-9:30 p.m. – Indy Polkamotion
Saturday, Oct. 9
12-1 p.m. – White River Cloggers
2-6 p.m. – Nebo Ridge
6-7:30 p.m. – poetry readings
8-10 p.m. – Elvis impersonator Todd Berry
Sunday October 10
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Apostolic Pentecostal Church
ROCK STAGE, The Living Alley
Friday Oct. 8
6-7:30 p.m. – Haley Joney
8-10 p.m. – The Flying Toasters
Saturday, Oct. 9
6-7:30 – Craig Moore
8-10 p.m. – JamBox
GAZEBO STAGE, Courthouse Plaza
Friday, Oct. 8
5-7 p.m. – TBA
7-9 p.m. – Nicole Bridgens
Saturday Oct. 9
1-3 p.m. – Nicole Bridgens
3-9 p.m. – TBA
For more information, or to register to participate as a vendor or in festival events, visit RileyFestival.com.
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