Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Crowds fill a section of Pendleton Avenue during Pendleton Fall Festival on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Emily Ann Thompson and husband Kelly perform at the gazebo in Falls Park during Pendleton Heritage Fair.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Nilai Valleev, 8, of Pendleton, takes a turn trying to throw a lasso onto a horn at Pendleton Heritage Fair in Falls Park on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Tim Ziuchkovski and his dad, Rick, of Muncie, watch a 50hp Type Y oil engine chug away during Heritage Fair in Falls Park on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Alan New (left) of Pendleton and his cousin Kevin Humbles of Indianapolis stand by a Ford Model T automobile while watching over their display of hit-and-miss engines at the Antique Engine and Tractor Show, part of Pendleton Heritage Fair.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Gentry Hohne, 4, of Munroe, works on a 50 hp engine with the help of Nathan Hirschy of Fortville, at the Antique Engine and Tractor Show, part of Pendleton Heritage Fair.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
C.J. McDivitt of Fountain City checks out the Rogers wagon display during Pendleton Heritage Fair on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Ella Melendez, 5, and Eli Melendez, 7, of Pendleton enjoy cotton candy at Pendleton Fall Festival on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
A group of young cheerleaders adds to the atmosphere prior to the 11th annual Lucky Duck Race in Falls Park on Saturday. The event, organized by the Friends of the Pendleton Community Library, raises money for library programs, resources and services.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
A section of the south bank of Fall Creek was packed with a crowd watching the 11th annual Lucky Duck Race.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
People line the south bank of Fall Creek, watching and photographing the end of the 11th annual Lucky Duck Race.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Members of the Friends of the Pendleton Community Library’s “Quack Pack” wait for the winners to cross the finish line at the end of the 2024 Lucky Duck Race.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Scarlett Grant Grant receives her third-place prize after the 11th annual Lucky Duck Race put on by Friends of the Pendleton Community Library on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
Pendleton Fall Festival was packed with shoppers on Saturday.
Scott Slade | The Times-Post
PENDLETON — The multi-event weekend — featuring among other things Pendleton Fall Festival and Fall Creek Heritage Fair — was a major success, according to organizers.
“This was probably the best event we’ve had in years,” Heritage Fair vendor coordinator Dusten Tryon said. “We had really good crowds on Saturday.”
The fair is organized by the non-profit group Friends of Falls Park and takes place in the park. Fall Festival is organized by Pendleton Chamber of Commerce and takes place along several streets in downtown Pendleton. Both took place Friday and Saturday.
This year, the festival moved its activities — many of which are similar to the fair, such as vendors, food trucks and live music — to streets and alleys that are closer to the park.
“I think that the people were really appreciative of the fact that the two festivals were next to each other,” Tryon said. “It made the overall event seam that much larger.”
Niki Brown, organizer of Fall Festival, said she really liked the way the new layout was working out.
“People are just having fun,” she said standing next to food trucks that had lines of people as far as one could see.
On Tuesday, with some time to reflect, Brown said, “I got a lot of positive feedback from people with the setup.
“Just how close everything was … just how combined everything was, made it more fluid.”
“I was really happy with it. It was so good to sit there and see the streets full of people.
“To see so many families in the park, that was amazing.”
Tryon credited the commitment of many groups — organizers of ParkFest on Thursday; the Spring Valley Quilt Guild, which had its show from Thursday through Sunday; Pendleton Lions and Kiwanis clubs; Pendleton Community Church of God; the town of Pendleton and more — for a successful time.
“There are just so many groups that make the festival weekend what it is,” he said. “I think people look forward to it.”
Tryon said organizers did not do their own crowd estimates this year because Anderson Madison County Visitors Bureau was using a system that determines crowd size based on cell phone signals in the area during certain times.
Those data were not available by press time.
Lucky Duck Race
Friends of the Pendleton Community Library ran its 11th annual Lucky Duck Race in Fall Creek.
The group “adopts” rubber ducks in the months leading up to the event, and drops them into the creek for a race to the finish line.
Regular (yellow) ducks cost $5, and sponsor (orange) ducks cost more.
The winners of this year’s event were Tom Riggins, first ($150); Dameon McCoy, second ($100); Scarlett Grant, third ($75); and Avery Bieberich, last ($100). Pendleton Kiwanis was the sponsor duck winner, which includes a variety of awards, including the right to name the event mascot next year and pull the string that releases the ducks into the creek from a crate suspended in the air.
Garry and Robin Brammer, owners of The Bank Restaurant, won last year’s sponsor duck race, with this year’s mascot named Mr. Drysdale and Robin releasing the ducks.
This year’s event raised $3,600 from 720 regular duck sales and $6,600 from 61 sponsor duck sales.
Friends uses the funds it raises to enhance the library’s resources, services and programs.
Park Fest
The fourth annual ParkFest took place on Thursday; it included a concert by Stella Luna and the Satellites, as well as other family activities, and benefited a future Falls Park amphitheatre project.
According to organizer Carol Hanna, the evening raised about $10,000 for the cause.