The Lexington community is once again gearing up for the Lexington Blueberry Festival, which annually draws thousands of visitors to the village for a weekend of family fun. The festival will be held Aug. 14 – 17 at Lexington Community Park.
The twelfth annual festival officially begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday evening. There is no admission or parking fee to enter the event.
Lisa Beilstein, chairwoman of the festival, is looking forward to a bright and sunny weekend. “[Weather] is a huge make or break point with festivals in general, so we’re very happy to see that sunshine is in the forecast.”
She noted, “We have a couple of new events this year that we’re really excited about in addition to our regular events.” New this year is the senior pageant, which will be held Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Lexington Senior Civic Center. “It’ll be a real light-hearted fun event,” Beilstein said.
Other new activities include the Blue Lights and Bubbles Parade on Thursday at 9 p.m. and the Blueberry Pet Idol contest at noon on Saturday. The pet idol contest will allow people to have their pets compete in three different categories: agility, obedience, and tricks, Beilstein said.
The festival will also offer a variety of attractions and games. There will be rides provided by Happy H Amusements and pony rides provided by Gottfried Ponyrides. Beilstein said that there will be about 20 food vendors, each of which will offer a blueberry item for purchase, “so you’re definitely going to get your fill of blueberry while you’re there,” she said.
Beilstein expects the car and bike show on Friday at 5:30 p.m. to be “phenomenal.”
She highlighted the live auction, which will be held Saturday at 7:30 p.m. “All of the proceeds go back into the festival and any proceeds that we have left over, go back into the parks…we’d really like to put some improvements into the skate park this year,” she said.
Visitors will also have the chance to enjoy a variety of musical entertainment. “We have a great lineup of bands,” Beilstein said.
Thursday will feature The Juvenile Mindset at 4:30 p.m., Blue Moonshine at 6:30 p.m., and several local guitarists at 7:45 p.m. Friday will feature The Brighter Side at 6 p.m. and Mojo Flo at 8:30 p.m. Saturday will feature Michael Kelsey at 5 p.m., House of Cane at 6:30 p.m., and the Matt Enik Band at 8:30 p.m. The Electric Circus will perform Sunday at 4 p.m.
Additional activities include the blueberry pageants on Friday at 4 p.m.; the pancake breakfast on Saturday at 7 a.m.; the Blueberry Festival 5K and Color Blast on Saturday at 8 a.m.; the Volleyball Bash on Saturday and Sunday at noon; the Scottish Highland Games on Saturday at 10 a.m.; Blueberry Idol on Saturday at 2 p.m.; and fireworks presented by Next Generation Films Saturday night at 10:10 p.m.
The Lexington Senior Civic Center Rummage Sale is occurring in tandem with the festival on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the senior center.
Beilstein encouraged visitors to follow the traffic signs upon entering the event. She said that part of Lexington-Springmill Road in front of Lexington Community Park will be closed for the safety of pedestrians. Free parking will be available on either end of the park, she said.
The Blueberry Festival first began as a bicentennial celebration 12 years ago. “It went over so well [the first year of the event] that we decided to keep having it, and since it wasn’t the bicentennial anymore, we needed a theme,” Beilstein explained.
She said the idea for the blueberry theme was pitched and noted that there aren’t other blueberry festivals in Ohio, “so it just worked,” she said.
For a full schedule of activities, visit http://www.lexblueberryfest.com/.
