A midsummer weekend's festival in Scott City

Scott City is gearing up for Summerfest, the yearly midsummer festival event featuring food, games, contests and music held every year in the Scott City Park. This year's festival will take place June 17 and 18.

The festival, now in its 29th year, offers residents of the small town a chance to come together and have fun in a family-friendly atmosphere.

Besides providing warm-weather entertainment for the city, the festival also gives schools, churches and community organizations a good shot at fund raising, said city park director Phyllis Crump.

"A lot of people will bring lawn chairs and set them up on the basketball court in front of the stage area, then they'll go to the stands and get something to eat and run into a lot of their friends during the course of that."

Scott City cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, churches and other groups set up stands selling food, crafts and other items that help fund activities throughout the year.

The event will kick off June 17 at 6 p.m. with a Baby Contest beauty pageant, sponsored by the Scott City Historical Society. This will be followed by other beauty pageants for older contestants and cap off that night with the festival's first Idol-Karaoke Contest, which will give local residents a shot at flexing their vocal muscle.

Festival activities on June 18 will include a parade at 1 p.m. and a pet contest immediately following. At 2 p.m. a rescue dog demonstration will be held along with a landing by the Arch Helicopter air ambulance.

At 5 p.m. there will be a junior talent show for children and a senior talent show for people age 13 and older. The senior talent show is a Mid-South Fair sanctioned event, and representatives from the fair will be on hand to watch the show. The winner will get a chance to compete in the Mid-South Fair talent show in Memphis in September.

The soft rock/country band Project 621 will take the stage at 8 p.m., with a fireworks display at 10 p.m.

Crump said Saturday is the big day for the festival, and the show could go on until midnight if the crowd stays around.

Throughout the festival rides and games will be offered for children, such as face painting and a rubber duck grab, and the Army National Guard will be present with a climbing wall to raise money for the local PTO.

For more information, call the Scott City parks office at 264-3411.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182