Millersport news: Sweet Corn Festival begins next week

The Millersport Lions Club will present the 2023 Sweet Corn Festival from Wednesday, Aug. 30 through Saturday, Sept. 2. The festival opens at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. The festival closes each evening at 11 p.m. Admission is free. Parking is $10 per vehicle. The festival was founded and has been sponsored by the Millersport Lions Club since 1946.

The festival kicks off at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The Grand Parade begins at 6 p.m. There will be corn-eating contests, The Land of Legend Barbershop Chorus, and a Garden and Compact Tractor Tug Pull.

Thursday will feature the selection of the 2023 Sweet Corn Festival Queen and Court beginning at 7:30 p.m. Contests and special music will be available across the grounds.

More: Country artist Chris Cagle and rockers Firehouse to headline sweet corn festival

FireHouse will be the featured entertainment on the Brookover-Harlow Pavilion on Friday evening beginning at 8:30 p.m. COSI Connects will have multiple performances and hands-on activities from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m.

The 33rd Ken Keener Classic 5-K Run will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday. The festival will open at 11 a.m. with Midway Ride Special Pricing, Kiddie Tractor Pull, the Grand Champion Corn Eating Contest at 7 p.m. and the Grand Prize Drawing at 11 p.m. for $10,000. The 2023 Sweet Corn Festival Queen and Court will be introduced at 8 p.m. followed by the featured entertainment Chris Cagle at 8:30 p.m.

Yard Sale

The Eastern Stars will hold a yard sale by Rays Rascals at the Millersport Methodist Church, 2310 Refugee Road in Millersport from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25 and Saturday, Aug. 26. There are multiple families taking part in the sale. There will be hot dogs, sloppy joes, chips, cookies and drinks available as well as homemade salsa.

50-year reunion

The Millersport High School Class of 1973 is planning its 50th Year Class Reunion. The group plans to meet from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, at the Millersport American Legion Hall, 2557 Canal Drive in Millersport. Finger foods and soft drinks will be provided. Come and share memories and reunite with old classmates in an informal atmosphere. Please reach out to former classmates and friends to assure they have been notified. Please RSVP by Sept. 1 to Beth Smith: email: Lbs3065@yahoo.com or phone 614-570-0276.

Senior citizens

The Millersport Senior Citizens met Aug. 18 in the Millersport Lions Clubhouse and President Ed Otte welcomed those present and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and singing “America." Nancy Davis offered prayer before the potluck lunch.

President Otte conducted the business meeting. He reminded the group that there would be no meeting on Friday, Sept. 1 due to the Sweet Corn Festival. The next meeting will be at noon Friday, September 15th at the Lions Clubhouse. Discussion was held on having the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office Community Outreach make a presentation on scams. The September Committee includes Marty Holtz, Dave Holtz, Pam Ricketts, and Carolyn Ricketts. Mary Dupler ended the meeting with several inspirational readings. Door prizes were won by Carolyn Ricketts, Deb Gant, Bill Yates, Mary Sue Slater, Barb Voehringer, Vivian Crist, Nancy Davis, Evelyn Worrell, Alice Graham, Carol King, Mary Dupler, and Rosie Brookover. The meeting was adjourned for cards and Bingo.

Village Council

Millersport Village Council met Aug. 8 in the Municipal Building. Mayor Gary Matheny will have a follow-up meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11, with local businesses to discuss upcoming community activities for Trick-or-Treat and Christmas. Movie Night has been canceled for the rest of 2023. Music in the Park will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23 with Cory Brown entertaining.

The radio read meters will be installed starting in October and will be finished by the end of the year. There was a preconstruction meeting with the Righter Company who will be installing the iron filter.

A crosswalk discussion concerning visibility and placement was held by council. The current system is solar powered and the lighting is not good. The Village will look into bigger signage. Laker Drive will be paved in phases by Law Construction. The project will be done by the middle of September. Water runoff along Main Street and between Lancaster Street and Broad Street is to have catch basins installed and direct the water to Deepcut canal. The village will begin to install sidewalks in the worst areas of town. Teresa Ralston explained that at the old water tower the overflow pipe does not make it to the catch basin and in the process the water flows into the lot and creates ruts.Sewer Superintendent Josh Lutz reported that they are replacing and rebuilding the mixers for the aeration tanks and Cummins is installing a new generator panel. The village experienced heavy rains in July and the plant and the system handled the influx of water due to the ground being dry.

Street Superintendent Dan Phelps has been working on cleaning catch basins and general maintenance at the cemetery and is painting the crosswalks and curbs for the Sweet Corn Festival.

Police Chief Mark Consolo sent statistics for the month of July: 8 traffic warnings, 2 dispatch runs and 2 mutual aid runs.

The 2024 Operating Budget was approved.

There was a 20-minute discussion involving future development and plans for that development. Annexation was discussed with what the benefits would be to the community, the village and how the village can pay for water line extension. The discussion was to look at a debt fee attached to the water bills to pay for the line extensions. Nothing was decided but annexation will continue to be discussed.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Millersport Sweet Corn Festival begins Aug. 30