Clinton Fall Festival slated for Sept. 23, 24; activities include parade, car show

CLINTON — It’s that time again — the time when about 20,000 people descend on Clinton for the Clinton Fall Festival.

This year's festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 23 and 24, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25.

There will be the usual arts and crafts booths, live entertainment, kids activities, a classic car show and the grand parade, festival chairwoman and president Doris Kemner said.

To help people get around, the festival is providing free shuttle buses and golf carts that will be traveling throughout the festival area from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Golf cart pickup locations will be south of Michigan Avenue.

“The Southern Michigan Railroad will be running on Saturday and Sunday. People can purchase tickets from the railroad and ride the train from Clinton to Tecumseh or if they want to park in Tecumseh and get on the train they can ride it from Tecumseh into Clinton,” Kemner said. “If people are looking for parking and can’t seem to find any, on Saturday and Sunday especially, they’ll be parking available at the Solid Rock Church on Tecumseh Road. Parking is $3 and we do have a bus that will be stopping at the church and picking people up there and taking them up to the festival. The bus transportation is free. Also at the Southern Michigan Railroad headquarters at the end of Bartlett Street they will have parking. We also have golf carts that go around the south side of our community and help pick people up that are parking and bringing them back into the festival. So that is also an option to watch for.”

Local churches are involved this year, including Clinton Baptist Church with face painting and balloon animals at their booth, Clinton United Methodist Church with a booth, Solid Rock Church with parking, Clinton United Church of Christ with a booth and Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Monastery with traditional Romanian dancing and food. There also will be an ecumenical church service at 10 a.m. Sunday on the Clinton Middle School stage.

Free entertainment is available Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the middle school stage. Some of the entertainers include 42 North, Earth Angels Youth Group, and Saline Fiddlers. Check the Clinton Fall Festival Facebook page for more details.

There will be 200 arts and crafts booths, which will be located on both sides of Tecumseh Road, the west lawn of Clinton Middle School and on a portion of Church, Franklin and Burton streets. Booths will offer the work of artists, authors, photographers, cooks and bakers, clothing designers, jewelry makers, woodworkers, painters, home décor experts, and chainsaw woodcarvers as well as people with candles and soaps, fudge and cookies, totes and handbags, and crochet Items.

There also will be visiting merchant and antique booths. Downtown merchants will be running specials during the festival.

The Classic Car and Truck show will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday on Tecumseh Road across from Solid Rock Church. Registration is $20.

The Clinton Fire Department will be running tours beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and will be open for most of the festival.

The grand parade is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Kemner said. It starts on Kehoe Road behind Clinton High School. It goes to Currier Street, then west on U.S. 12 to Division Street. Kemner recommends getting there by 1:30 to find parking a spot to watch the parade.

The silent auction is back this year, Kemner said. It'll be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the middle school with entrance off Tecumseh Road. Successful bidders can pick up their items from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Carnival and rides will be at Tate Park Friday through Sunday. All-day wristbands are $25 or $1.50 per ticket or 50 tickets for $50. A ride takes about four to five tickets.

Artisans and nonprofits will be on the lawn of the Smith Kimball Community Center including the Greyhound Rescue Society, colonial weaving, basket makers, 4-H groups, knitting, stained glass, glass blowing, wood carvers and woodworkers as well as chair caning.

There will also be food vendors, and local merchants and churches are offering delicious food.

The kids zone at Franklin Street includes face-painting, inflatables, an animal and petting farm, and Rosco the Clown. A mini pedal tractor pull is available at Tate Park on Saturday. Registration for the tractor pull is at noon, and the pull begins at 1 p.m.

More than 10,000 books available during Clinton library's used book sale

The Friends of the Clinton Township Public Library invite the public to check out its extended used book sale this weekend, which takes place alongside the Clinton Fall Festival.

The book sale will be Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 22-24. Sale hours will be 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Clinton Township Public Library, 100 Brown St., one block north of the stoplight at U.S. 12 in the village.

“So many wonderful books have been donated in the past few years,” Barb Hoeffner, a member of the Friends of the Library, said in a news release. “We couldn’t hold our sales without the generous support of the Clinton community.”

The regular book sale scheduled for this weekend will be in the lower level of the library with more than 10,000 categorized books on nearly every topic for book lovers of all ages. A featured book stand will be about Christmas and completing Christmas shopping early.

Most hardcover and softcover books will be priced at $1. Pocket paperback books are 50 cents, and most children’s books are 25 cents, the release said.

“We have a huge selection of jigsaw puzzles, as well as a great selection of newer fiction and mystery books,” Hoeffner said. “The children’s section is well stocked and beautifully organized featuring winter holidays.”

Book lovers, collectors and dealers will find even more offerings at the library’s Rare and Vintage Sale, which will be in the first floor meeting room. Many rare and vintage books that have been donated in the past three years will be included as part of the rare and vintage sale.

“Through the Clinton Fall Festival, the library showcase is featuring some of the rarer and noteworthy books,” Hoeffner added. “These books are for sale. Be sure to check out the display while you’re at the library.”

Featured categories include:

• Classics (art, literature and music).

• Genealogy.

• Michigan.

• Vintage children’s books.

• Vintage fiction.

• History, including many military books.

• Automotive, woodworking and architecture books.

• Lots of miscellaneous genres and titles.

These books are specially priced, Hoeffner said, but will be “much less expensive than you would find them at online sites.”

A list of some of the more interesting books can be found on the Friends of the Clinton Township Public Library page at www.clintontownshiplibrary.org.

The book sales are accessible to all, Hoeffner said. For more information, call the library at 517-456-4141.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Preview: 2022 Clinton Fall Festival takes place Sept. 23-25