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Attendees at this year’s Pickerington Violet Festival will no doubt notice that some things seem a little bigger.
The annual mainstay of the Pickerington community has a new, larger location this summer, and that extra space will be evident in the revamped children’s area, expanded parking lot and a variety of other location-dependent changes.
The Violet Festival takes place July 23-26.
The festival is in its 17th year, but this will be the first on the grounds of Peace United Methodist Church, 235 Diley Rd. NW, after years at Victory Park. Festival organizers are taking full advantage by affording more space for activities for both adults and children.
“What we’re going to do is have a large, expanded children’s area, and we will have amusement rides in that specific area that are designed for children … under 6,” says festival committee member Debbie Beyer.
Other activities in store for children include caricature artists, crafts, a bounce house and pony rides.
Another major change to the festival is the Diley Ridge 5K Dash route. Starting from Pickerington Elementary School, which is adjacent to the new festival location, participants run through the surrounding neighborhoods and then finish at the school. The Kids’ Fun Run remains from last year as well. Both races take place Saturday morning.
The new location represents a long-awaited opportunity, says Jason Heitmeyer, festival board president.
“As we were growing with the events and activities that we wanted to put on, we were maxed out on space where we were,” Heitmeyer says. “We’ve been looking for a new location, and this opportunity arose to relocate.”
The event relies heavily on approximately 150 volunteers from the PCMA Food Pantry of Pickerington, and donations to the organization are made at the end of the event.
As in previous years, the entertainment portion of the festival will feature both local performers and national acts. Central Ohio bands Adam’s Fault, Radio Tramps and the Carlie Short Band will be headlining on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively. Saturday night’s national-act headliner was unconfirmed as of early May, but previous years’ marquee acts have included Night Ranger, Survivor, Jo Dee Messina and Eddie Money.
The usual festival highlights – including the Car & Bike Show and the parade, both on Saturday, as well as business and food vendors and a beer garden every day – are still around, too.
Tickets for the event are $3 Wednesday and Thursday, and $5 Friday and Saturday. Children under 12 are admitted free.
“It’s an event for residents of Pickerington to come together and enjoy themselves and showcase Pickerington, not only to the Pickerington community, but to all the other visitors coming into Pickerington for the festival,” Heitmeyer says. “It’s to show Pickerington as a great place to live and do business.”
Nen Lin Soo is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
