Canal Winchester’s 100th Labor Day Festival deemed a success
Canal Winchester’s 100th Labor Day Festival celebration drew thousands of visitors to the city’s historic downtown to hear national music acts, enjoy food from a variety of vendors and be thrilled by carnival rides.
Organizers didn’t estimate attendance numbers for the event Sept. 3-5 but said the occasional rainy weather likely kept some people away.
The festival, billed as Ohio’s “largest and longest-running” Labor Day celebration, traditionally has attracted about 30,000 visitors.
The centennial celebration was delayed for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People were thrilled to be back together,” festival committee President Carolyn Ebert said. “It was fun to see people walking around with their families and just enjoying the day and smiling and joking and having a good time.”
The festival featured main-stage musical performances by Uncle Kracker and Epic Eagles, an Eagles tribute band.
Mayor Mike Ebert estimated that 6,000 people were in the street in front of the main stage for the Uncle Kracker show.
Heavy rains Sept. 5 concluded before the afternoon parade, Carolyn Ebert said.
Festival events also included an ice cream social, animals from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the Eyes of Freedom Memorial, which honors the 22 Marines and Navy corpsmen of Lima Company who were killed in action in Iraq.
“All I heard was positive comments from the people who attended this year,” Mike Ebert said.
The committee focused on getting more food vendors plus dining tents along Waterloo Street.
The festival received a financial boost from City Council, which voted unanimously to provide the event with $30,000 after “key sponsors” couldn’t support the celebration.
The contribution came from the city’s bed-tax fund that helps projects that will “enhance Canal Winchester for its residents and visitors,” according to city guidelines.
“I just want to thank all the volunteers and the festival’s planning committee that put countless hours into this, and I want to thank the sponsors who were able to sponsor us this year,” Carolyn Ebert said. “We know there were some who couldn’t but the ones who did really came through for us.”
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Canal Winchester’s 100th Labor Day Festival deemed a success
