This coming Saturday, Aug. 23, the Richland County Republican Party will host the annual Corn and Watermelon Festival from noon to 3 p.m. at the South Park Pavilion on Brinkerhoff Avenue.
Mike Casto, Chairman of the Executive Committee, said the purpose of the event is to help support local Republican political figures that are running for re-election or beginning their campaigns for office. Candidates and members of the Central Committee sell tickets to the event to help raise funds for the candidates’ campaigns.
Local candidates to be highlighted at the event include State Representative Mark Romanchuk, Shelby Mayor Marilyn John, and Richland County Common Pleas Court Judge Brent Robinson.
In the November election, Mayor John and Mansfield City Council President Phil Scott will compete for the Richland County commissioner seat. Rep. Romanchuk will run against challenger Don Bryant, the Democrat Party candidate. Judge Robinson also hopes to continue his position as the county’s common pleas court judge and will run against Municipal Court Magistrate Phil Naumoff.
“Not all candidates can afford to have fundraising events and this is a way of allowing to them to use the party’s experience and support base to have a fundraising event that can go towards their own campaign,” Casto explained.
Casto said that a countywide race can cost around $50,000 in campaign expenses.
The festival will feature hot dogs, pulled pork, sloppy joes, baked beans, a variety of desserts, and, of course, corn and watermelon. The cost to attend is $7 for adults, $5 for children, and kids six and younger are free.
Casto said that the event was originally called the watermelon festival and was held earlier in the summer. “And then we started holding it later and later in the year and it happened to be sweet corn season, and [Commissioner] Tim Wert raises sweet corn and started donating corn to the party,” Casto described.
Wert will again provide the corn for this year’s festival.
