Harvest Fest a hit in Wauneta
Wauneta residents and friends took advantage of a beautiful weekend to celebrate this year’s Harvest Fest.
Activities kicked off Thursday with sloppy joes at the Senior Center. A full pool for night swimming followed an evening of co-ed softball and pickleball.
Kids cooled off Friday afternoon with pool games before the start of the second annual Galen Todd Memorial Cornhole Tournament with 32 adult teams and seven kids’ teams.
Winners were Chad Cochran and Keithan Cochran. Second place went to Duncan Rector and Nathan Hinojosa with third place going to Halle Bardsley and Aidan Kennicutt.
In the youth division, Maggie Dewester and Jaylea Walgren were first, Barry Fries and Easton Fries placed second and third place went to Parker Anderson and Gavin McKinney.
Saturday started early with the Yucca Run.
Winner of the women’s 3K walk was Lyndsay Acton. Lora Villarreal was first in the women’s 5K 30-39 age division and Devan Mills was second, Heidi Anderson won the 40-49 age division and Rose Cayer was first in the 50-59 division.
In the men’s 5K, Andrew Wiest was first and Zac Anderson was second in the 13-15 age group. In the 20-29 age division, Chris Bartels was first followed by Jake Maris and Jackson Smith. Dustin Stein was first in the 30-39 age group and Eric Behlke was first in the 40-49 age group.
After the BWTelcom Courtesy Breakfast that served around 250, the morning continued with the parade, led by Grand Marshal the Wauneta-Palisade FFA Chapter, followed by Sandhills State Bank kids games, the poker walk and car show at Harchelroad Motors.
Susie’s Creative Stitches placed first in the parade. Eyelookgood Essential Family Eyewear was second, Sandhills State Bank placed third and Spring Creek Feed and Supply was honorable mention.
Kalli Horkey won first place in the poker walk and Jason Arellano was second.
HomeTown Agency served over 250 people at their courtesy lunch at BWTelcom.
The Wauneta Volunteer Fire Department water fights were back. Taking first place were Brody Nordhausen, Cash Yearous, Blaine Dorn and Luke Curl. Second place went to Scott Kennicutt, Steven Todd, Kelly Doetker and Landon Lemburg.
First place at the 24-team, double elimination Cody Fanning Memorial Horseshoe Tournament went to Ryan Fischer and Justin Haskins, followed by Jesse West and Chad Flaig then Brady Chilewski and Ridge Horkey.
Brooks Kramer had the first duck to reach the finish line of the FFA Duck Races. Chuck Vette was second and Mike Lite was third. Derek Sandman’s was the last duck to cross the line. Winner of the drawing for the FFA picnic table was Vicki Jussel.
Five rafts made it to the finish of the HFC River Raft Races—Samara Alfayo, Jaylea Walgren and Molly Yearous, Major Malcolm, Micah Bley and Bailey West. The Best Decorated Raft went to West and the Best Constructed Raft went to Walgren and Yearous. This year’s rafts could only be made out of cardboard and duct tape. Hondo Fanning said the engineering of the rafts has improved over the last three years and some of the entrants have figured things out and how to make the boats seaworthy.
The WVFD Smoke Off went on throughout the day Saturday. Cindy Fischer won the pork butt and brisket competition. Clint Johnson was the ribs winner.
The park stayed busy in the evening with a kids’ scavenger hunt and sand volleyball.
Winning the scavenger hunt was Myka Applegarth, followed by Kyleigh Shifflett and McKinney.
Sand volleyball was won by Haylee Sandman, Alexa Sandman, Kalynn Meyer, Cord Lee, Austen Rozelle and Gramy Cuizon.
Activities wrapped up Sunday with dinner at the Senior Center then the Ranch Rodeo that afternoon.
T’s Bar and Grill of Wallace, Levi Tyan, Caleb Hinkel, Darren Sellers and Taylor Hendricks, were the winners and Sellers was named top hand. Second place went to Mavericks, Reese West, Myles West, Tucker Boos and Bryson Tidyman, while in third place were The 4 Amigos, Kaden Scott, Lane Scott, Brett Gratrell and Baydun Reed.