By: Angel Steiner
Harlan Days Festival is always the first weekend of August — has been since my brain has been able to form memories. Honestly, I do not have a single summertime memory that did not include Harlan Days. It was one of my dad’s favorite things do each summer (he grew up in the Harland area). Never will I forget the Skunk Mountain boys & their spraying cement truck at the annual parade – LOL.
Thursdays start with the National Anthem and general housekeeping announcements and wishes for a great fair year. In the main food pavilion, a large array of delicious dishes and meals are ready to purchase and enjoy at a table while Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, ball teams and other young people volunteer to bus tables and keep them clean for the fair guests. I remember doing that one summer when I was younger.
A walk through the Merchants’ area, basketball and softball games and just strolling through the lanes of carnival games is great. Not to mention so many junk food options, the Bingo Tent, and carnival rides. My best ride memories are of the Rocko- Planes (I believe that ride was retired a few years back and replaced with the Zipper… looks fun!). Friends and I would rock those cars back and forth as we went around the wheel trying our hardest to spin around and around! We would scream and laugh as we went upside down over and over again… and usually get off rather dizzy, but thoroughly entertained.
Music groups entertain at the Moonlight Theater each evening (pictured above) and the arena has some exciting event planned for each night, whether its the Harlan Days 500 or tractor pulls, it was sure to get your adrenaline pumping!
The Headquarters Tent is always a fun place to stop — if you lost your child, lost your bag, etc. those nice folks will announce it and it will be found. And don’t forget about signing up for the hourly T-Shirt giveaway—I have several of those shirts in my closet from years gone by. The business community from around the area are so generous helping to support this small town festival. This year’s t-shirt sponsors were the following: A Lily’s Dew Drop Flower Shop, Amstutz Excavating, Berning Builders Inc, Bin Clean, Blue Fruit Jar Antiques, Bontrager Construction, *Dig Drive DIY, Emenhiser Crop Solutions LLC, Enterprise Electric, Inc., First Merchants Bank, Freehling Transport, Inc., G&K Concepts, Inc., *Garmater Trenching, Inc., Generation Farms, *GLOW (God’s Lights of Woodburn), *Graber Roofing, Harlan Christian Youth Center, Harlan Lions Club, Indiana Wild, J.T. & Mullett Excavating,Inc., J&M In Home Pet Care, *Jim’s Auto Care, Jim Schmidt Automotive, Klopfenstein Repair, Inc., Kurtz Produce, Lawrence Insurance Group, *Paragon Construction Inc., Primetime Promotions, Raise Up Christian Childcare, Roemke Farms, Ruoff Home Mortgage, Veronica Hauser Sand Ridge LLC, *Schlatter Farms, Schneck Excavating Inc., Shambaugh & Hertig Dental Group, Springfield Restoration & Remodeling, TJK Mechanic Services, *The Almond Garten II, The Hicksville Bank, *Till Trucking, Inc., *Tony’s Garage Door Service, Wells Heating & Cooling.
Saturday morning’s parade is always a hit. So many parade entries proceeding down SR 37 towards the park — businesses, organizations, politicians, churches, etc. As I said earlier, my favorite parade memory is those silly skunk mountain boys dressed up in their “country hick” outfits, fake beards, and that cement truck (fairly certain they were some of my dad’s old buddies because he would always shout something out to them when they passed us – LOL).
There’s nothing better than a small town fair, where everyone knows your name… or at least a majority do. A place to catch up with old friends and reminisce, say “hi” to family, or just intermingle with others enjoying a night out on a summer evening, relax and have a good time.
And now being on the adult side of life, I have a real appreciation for all the planning committee does to make a Fair/Festival a roaring success as Harlan Days always is — the amount of volunteer man hours to prepare the park, to plan the parade, to map out the vendor spaces, to solicit for food vendors, ride companies, trash pick up, port-a-jon rentals, etc. The list is long that has to be done to ensure fair goers have an enjoyable (and safe) weekend. Kudos to you Harlan Days planning committee! I see you and value what you did to make Harlan Days Festival awesome!
Harlan Days 2023 — it was a good one hopefully with many more to come.
