Royal party

ROYAL CITY — Royal City will turn out at Lions Park this weekend for the city’s annual Summerfest, with a few changes from past years.

“There's going to be vendors in the park Friday night and Saturday,” said Jonathan Cox, chairman of the Summerfest committee. “In addition, Friday night we're going to be doing mutton busting, we're going to have our big car show, we're going to have fireworks. On Saturday, it's going to be similar to what we always do, we have the parade starting at 10 a.m. right down the main street, then after that, there's going to be the same vendors in the park. So people have the opportunity to get food both days."

As before, there will be an array of inflatables and bouncy houses in the park, Cox said, and a mechanical bull. There will also be a Touch-a-Truck, where kids – and adults, for that matter – can check out fire engines and other big equipment.

This year will also see a ping pong ball drop, he said. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, a small plane will fly over the park and drop colored ping pong balls, which kids can pick up and win a prize.

One change this year is to the fun run, which in the past was held after dark with runners bedecked with glow sticks, said Sarah Allred, the committee member in charge of the run.

“I have younger kids, and some other committee members have younger kids, and it just wasn't super geared towards us being able to go at 9:30 or 10 o'clock at night,” Allred said.

Instead, the run will be held at the more family-friendly hour of 7:30 p.m. Dubbed the Run Down Memory Lane, the run will be either a mile or a 5k, depending on the runner’s preference. Along the route, there will be stations with bubbles and prizes, as well as one for each decade of Royal City’s history, with music from the era and class photos from Royal schools yearbooks.

“We wanted something that would entice maybe older generations to come and they can do the one-mile walk, but also be fun for younger kids,” Allred said.

The Royal City Dancing Horses, a Summerfest staple, will be a featured part of the parade Saturday, Cox said, and then perform at the park afterward. Saturday evening entertainment will be provided by Paso Firme, playing banda music, a brass-heavy style of music originally from Mexico.

“They're actually guys from our community, but they have a pretty decent following,” Cox said.”We expect there'll be a pretty good draw from them.”

The food vendors, about 20 of them, will be set up in the park both days, Cox said, with a wide array of offerings.

“We feel pretty good about the lineup,” Cox said. “We have some of the best Mexican street tacos in our community, so we'll have some of those.”

There will also be barbecue, teriyaki, funnel cakes and elephant ears, among other fare, he said.

“I think it's gonna be a really great time for families to just come and spend a few hours,” Allred said. They can eat in the park, and there's mutton busting and face painting, and just lots of things.”

This year’s festival almost didn’t happen. Back in January, the four members of the previous Summerfest committee all stepped down for a variety of reasons, and a new committee of 10 people led by Cox sprang up to replace it in April. It’s been a learning experience, Cox said, for people who have never done it before to put together a festival.

We've had a great response from our community, in terms of people stepping up to volunteer, and also local businesses stepping up to donate,” Cox said. “We've had one of our best fundraisers in quite some time. So we're grateful for the local businesses and entities that have stepped up to do that for us.”

“I know there's a lot of changes this year, which I think people in the community will be surprised with,” Allred said. “But I think a lot of them are really good changes. The event is supposed to bring the community together, and I think the changes that have been made will really be able to do that.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com. He can also be found at Summerfest this weekend, with a camera around his neck. Say hello if you get a chance.