The Scottville Clown Band performs as members march in the Arcadia Daze festival. File photo by Mark Videan.
From staff reports
ARCADIA – The 43rd annual Arcadia Daze celebration will begin at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 25, when the Railroad Historical Society of Northwest Michigan will host an hour-long panel discussion about the early railways in northern Michigan. The event will take place at the Arcadia United Methodist Church, 4th and Division streets, and is sponsored by the Arcadia Historical Society.
The event coincides with an “Arcadia and Betsey River Railroad” exhibit at the Arcadia Historical Museum, 3422 Lake St., on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Then, on Friday, July 25, the events will kick off with a pickleball tournament from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Pleasant Valley Community Center, 7th Street and Glovers Lake Road. Pre-registration is required. The Arcadia Daze opening ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Finch Park on 5th Street and features members of the VFW Post.
In the park immediately following the ceremony will be live music by Barefoot until 8 p.m. and pulled pork sandwiches plus a beverage tent with domestic and craft beer, and St. Ambrose Cellars’ X.R. Cyser, a type of mead made with fermented honey and apple juice. Attendees can catch a free horse-drawn carriage ride at Trinity Lutheran Church (3rd and Mill streets), then dance to Bent Carrot under the pavilion from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., with a break at dusk to watch the fireworks above Lake Michigan at the Sunset Station, at the end of 5th Street.
Saturday’s events include a pancake breakfast, auto muster, 5k run, free kids’ fishing, children’s story time about trains, kids’ vision trailer, arts and crafts fair, ham-and-German-potato-salad lunch, beverage tent, cornhole tournament, barbecue chicken dinner, more carriage rides, more music by Barefoot and another chance to dance to the music of Bent Carrot.
The spotlight on Sunday is on a take-out-only pancake breakfast, the arts and crafts fair, a kids’ balloon artist at Finch Park, a 12:30 p.m. fife and drum concert march from Finch Park to the marina, the popular village parade at 1:30 p.m., and raffle drawings and the Scottville Clown Band performance at Finch Park.
Arcadia Daze is hosted by the Arcadia Lions Club and is the nonprofit organization’s major fundraiser for the year. Sponsors of the event include: Arcadia Marine, Miller Poultry, Arcadia Bluffs, BJ Hopwood Inc., Blarney Castle, Catanese Customs LLC, Grille 44, Iron Fish Distillery, St. Ambrose Cellars, Sunset Valley Resort, Watervale Inn, Chestnut Hills Golf Course, Larson Family Benzie Automotive, MT Plate Diner, Northern Disposal, Pleasant Valley Community Center, Stormcloud Brewing Company, West Shore Bank, @NoodleKittyArt, The Art Garage, Black Cap Farm, Meijer-Manistee, Pleasant Valley Resort Motel, Saddle Up Gas & Grocery and Sievert’s Maple Syrup.
Follow Arcadia Daze updates on Facebook @ArcadiaLions and visit the website: www.townshipofarcadia.org/arcadia-daze.
