The 119th Annual Old Settlers Picnic is this weekend, starting on Friday evening with a street dance and continuing to the recognition of old settlers to the community on Monday afternoon.
The parade is on Monday, with the Marilyn Holt family as the grand marshalls.
The following information was provided by Sara Roufs, president of the Old Settler’s Picnic Committee.
Friday, August 30
To kick off the weekend, there will be a street dance on Friday evening with live music by No Bad Vibes.
Saturday, August 31
“The 5K Run/Walk will now be in Uniontown as well as the kid’s fishing derby so the town will be bustling and we are inviting the community to have a yard sale if they wish,” said Sara Roufs. “It would be a great chance to make some spending cash for Monday where there will be a variety of food and craft vendors available.
Sunday, September 1
There will be the traditional community church service in the park on Sunday at 10 a.m. starting with a coffee, milk and donuts social. This annual event is a collaboration of the First Missionary Baptist Church and Uniontown Methodist Church.
“Everyone really enjoyed bingo last year, so we will start that earlier on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Prizes have been donated by local businesses.”
Sally Johnson will be facilitating the bingo game and it will be at the southeast pavilion in the town’s square.
The grand opening of the new pickleball court will be at 5:30 p.m. at the new court on the south side of the town square park.
“Family Fun Night will begin at 6 p.m. at the park and will also include the kids’ games normally played on Monday. The youth rodeo also begins at 6 p.m. on Sunday.”
Monday, September 2
“The car show will be held at the southeast side of the square starting at 9 a.m. so be sure to check out the amazing vehicles and grab some breakfast before the parade begins.”
“New this year for the car show, Dale Jackson’s family will be judging and picking their top 20 favorite vehicles and top 5 favorite motorcycles and overall best of show. Spectators are invited to vote for their favorite as well. Trophies will be awarded by the family at 1:00.”
“Food and craft vendors will mainly be lined up on the north street this year to make room in the park for everyone to stay and enjoy the day.”
“Bring a lawn chair or lay a blanket out on the grass. We will have live music throughout the day performed by Holly Crays and cash prizes, raffle drawings and contests.”
“We will have a baby parade at noon at the gazebo where they can introduce and show off their little ones. All babies that register for the baby parade will be entered to win a prize.”
“We will once again be having free kids carnival games in the northwest corner of the park starting at noon. The Old Settlers Committee has purchased prizes with donations from our generous sponsors to provide free fun for the kids to replace the bounce houses they were allowed to have in the past. Starting last year, the city council now requires that we purchase a special event policy to cover all the weekend events and our policy will not cover bounce houses. The carnival games are a great replacement and we are really excited to send the kids home with some fun prizes.”
Parade
“All kids are welcome to be in the children’s parade at 10:30. Ride a bike, wear a costume or just walk for fun. Line up at the fire station at 10:15.
The parade will start at 11 a.m.
The grand marshall of the 2024 parade is Marilyn Holt and her family. Community members are selected to be honored to lead the parade each year.
“Entries for the main parade will line up starting at 10 a.m. at the football field. We hope every club, organization, business, etc will participate. Our parade theme this year is “It’s a family tradition” and we will have a family float category so we hope to see some families join the parade. There will be cash prizes for the top floats.”
All area families, clubs, organizations, teams, churches and businesses are invited to be a part of the parade. First place prize for a float is $100, 2nd place is $75 and 3rd place is $50.
Kids Sign Up To Win a New Bike
“New this year too, all kids in attendance will be able to sign up (for free) at the Old Settlers tent to win a free bike! We will have multiple bikes to give away, which were paid for by raffle ticket sales this year. Mary Pillion has done an amazing job organizing and selling raffle tickets to make this happen.”
“As the treasurer, she keeps meticulous records and devotes a great amount of time to fundraising and contacting our sponsors. We have an entire circle of people volunteering time or making donations. There are far too many to mention individually but we want to thank everyone who has contributed to this and kept this community tradition going since 1905.”
“We hope to have another great year!” Roufs said.
