GALION — Final preparations are underway for the 2021 Pickle Run Festival.
Galion’s Fourth of July celebration is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, July 2-3 at Heise Park. The annual fireworks display is scheduled for Saturday night at dusk.
“We’re excited,” said Sarah Capretta, one of the organizers of the festival. “We have a lot of food vendors coming back this year and we have some new food vendors this year that we’re excited to welcome to the Pickle Run. On Saturday we’re going to start the morning off with a craft show and a car and cycle show. We’ve had a great turnout of craft vendors that have signed up to participate in this year’s event. There’s going to be a ton of craft vendors down there with a variety of things to pick from.”
The craft show will be set up in the parking lot next to Unckrich Stadium.
Capretta said organizers have received some exciting news about a special giveaway prize for the car and cycle show.
“We actually had an airplane ride donated for one of the giveaways,” she said. “Sparks Fly LLC out of Mount Gilead donated a 30-minute airplane ride to use as a giveaway during the car show. I was super-excited about that. It’s definitely something different. You can’t say you can go to many car shows and win an airplane ride. All the businesses around Galion have been incredibly generous about donating giveaway items to the car show. We get great support from local businesses and the community.”
A new activity at the festival this year is movie night on Friday, Capretta said.
“We’re going to show the movie ‘The Great Outdoors’ on a 25-foot inflatable movie screen in Heise Park,” Capretta said. “That’ll happen at dusk. There’s a (Galion) Graders (baseball) game on Friday night, so, obviously, we’ll have to wait until the lights are turned off to show it, but we’re super-excited about that.”
The popular eating contests return this year featuring hot dogs, pickles, and pickle pizza from East of Chicago Pizza. The contests are scheduled from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday of the festival.
“We’re not going to pre-register those events. We’re going to announce them and whoever wants to participate can participate,” Capretta said. “They are fun.”
The Galion Community YMCA Glow Run returns on Friday night of the festival. It features a fun run and a 5K run. The registration fee is $15 if paid by June 25. The fee is $20 if paid on the day of the event. Fees should be paid to the YMCA, 500 Gill Avenue. For information, call 419-468-7754 or email [email protected].
Pre-registration is required for the 4-on-4 sand volleyball, 3-on-3 basketball, and disc golf tournaments that are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The sand volleyball and basketball tournaments will be played on Saturday in Heise Park. The disc golf tournament is set for Sunday at Amick Reservoir. Go to the Pickle Run Festival Facebook for information about each event.
Entertainment on Saturday will be provided by the Galion Community Band and the Crazy Gringos. The Community Band will perform from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The Crazy Gringos will perform from 7 to 9 p.m.
The Galion Community Theatre is sponsoring a talent show from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
For information about the Pickle Run Festival, visit its Facebook page.
The Galion Graders baseball club has three home games scheduled at Heise Park July 2-4. The Graders face the Lima Locos on Friday, then entertain the Sandusky Ice Haulers on Saturday, and play host to the Michigan Monarchs on Sunday evening. First pitch for all three games is scheduled at 7:05 p.m.
Admission to the Graders baseball games costs $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens.
