Wauneta Harvest Fest on for next week

    There will be a Harvest Fest in Wauneta this year, but it will be a little different than in the past.
    There’s somewhat more emphasis on outdoor activities, two of which are new, and some familiar events have been moved around and tweaked a bit.
    The Wauneta Chamber of Commerce got the first look at the schedule in its meeting last week. The festival is set for July 23-26.
    The opening day next Thursday will feature a single event—a kickball tournament at 7 p.m. at the ball field.
    Friday, July 24, will also have a light schedule, with sand volleyball at 5 p.m. and kids’ events at 6 p.m., both of those in the park. The Lions Club will sell walking tacos in the shelter near the pool from 5 to 7 p.m.
    The event will begin in earnest Saturday, July 25, with the Yucca Run. Registration will be at 6:30 a.m. with the run
beginning at 7 a.m., followed by a fun run at 7:45 a.m. Those are headquartered at the Senior Center.
    Hometown Agency will be serving breakfast burritos from 7 to 9 a.m. on the corner by Frenchman Auto.
    Since parades remain a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, the The Harvest Fest’s parade has been rebranded as a “morning float cruise.” Lineup will at 8:30 a.m. in the school parking lot, 90 minutes before the event.
    A general meeting for the smokeoff will be east of the baseball field at 9 a.m. The poker walk will begin at 11 a.m. at Harchelroad Motors.
    A car show will open in the park at noon. The annual Cody Fanning Horseshoe Tournament will be at 1 p.m. by the football field.
    Ultimate yard games will be at 2 p.m. by the baseball field, with the duck race at 3:15 p.m. on the river.
    The Chamber Courtesy Dinner, featuring the products of area barbecue places, will be at 5:30 p.m. at the park’s tennis courts.
    Saturday evening will conclude at 7 p.m. with music in the Park by Night Sounds. There will be no dance this year.
    Also on Saturday, booths will be selling sno cones and root beer floats. Crossroads will feature lunch specials from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
    Harvest Fest will conclude Sunday, July 26. A dinner will be held at the Wauneta Senior Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The final event, another new one, will be a ranch rodeo and mutton busting at 2 p.m. at Smith Arena.
River raft race
    A new event this year will be a river raft race, which will start at 1 p.m. on July 25.
    “I wanted to do something that would be a Wauneta kind of specialty thing,” race organizer Hondo Fanning said. “Not every town has a river right in it and that’s where the idea came about. We have that option, we might as well use it.”
    Entry fee is $10, for which entrants will be supplied with a cardboard box measuring about 2 feet wide by 4 feet long by 1 foot high, duct tape to hold it together and a paddle.
    That put the maximum number of contestants at 17 because “that’s the amount of boxes I’ve got,” Fanning said. Entrants can build a boat only with the supplies provided.
    Entrants will sail down the river one at a time, starting at the west bridge and ending at the east bridge. Those who make it all the way will be timed and entered into a raffle for a $150 prize.
    Spectators on the river bank will be allowed to push the boat along if it gets stuck.
    The rules stipulate at least one passenger per boat. “If a brother and sister want to ride together or a couple of friends, that wouldn’t matter,” he said.
    If you’re not just an amateur riverboat pilot but an artist as well, the event also will have a $100 prize for the best-decorated boat. Decorations can be done in spray paint, markers, crayons and tape and glue.
    Hondo Fanning Construction and Baxter Concrete are supplying the prize money.
    Fanning said entrants would be required to bring their own life jackets.
    He said he planned to do some cleanup on the route last weekend by tubing the river with his kids “to make sure there’s no sticks sticking out of the bank.”