LUCKEY – A new year will provide visitors of the 27th annual Luckey Fall Festival plenty of entertainment
and opportunities for new experiences with relics from an older time.
The free festival opens Friday morning at Basic Park, on Adams Street between Ohio 582 and Gilbert Road,
and wraps up by late afternoon on Sunday. The old-fashioned affair features craft, gas engine and
tractor displays as well as a 50-50 drawing and a flea market throughout the weekend.
Regular visitors to the festival remain loyal to its excellent food and programming, which allows access
to a piece of vintage country life.
"It’s an old-time country-style festival all about history and antiques," said Larry Swartz,
the festival’s organizer.
The festival’s main attraction, the flea market, will include roughly 200 vendors with "about
anything you’re looking for," Swartz aid.
Other popular draws include the antique tractor pull and the gas engine display.
The Eastwood FFA will host a pull at 10 Friday morning, followed by a Luckey area business tractor pull
at 6:30 that evening. The festival will run a pull on Saturday morning at 11:15, after an 8 a.m.
weigh-in.
The gas engine area will showcase antique machinery, including old engines dating back to the 1920s and
earlier.
The antique steam saw mill, a relatively new addition to the festival, also will return with a
lumber-making demonstration.
Festival programming runs from 8 a.m. to 6:30 Friday; 7 to 6:30 Saturday; and 7 to 4:30 on Sunday.
Parking is available around the festival entrance.
The event additionally features a muzzle-loader encampment, a variety of foods, a steam engine spark
show, and a steam engine hobo dinner.
A bingo game will get rolling by 5 p.m. on Friday. Saturday’s programming begins with apple butter-making
and breakfast at 7 in the morning, followed by a classic auto display at 10, another bingo game and a
hobo dinner at noon, a horseshoe pitch at 1, a square dance demonstration at 5 and a performance by the
Main Street County Band at 6:30.
Sunday’s lineup kicks off with breakfast at 7 in the morning, followed by church service at 9:30, a
chicken barbecue at 11:30 and an adult and kiddie tractor pull at 2 that afternoon.
Tickets for the 50-50 raffle will be sold at the information booth throughout the festival weekend, and
all drawings will occur at the close of festival on Sunday. The festival depends on revenue from the
raffle, donations and pull fees for funding.
Limited non-exhibitor camping is available at a cost of $30 for the weekend. Pre-registration is
encouraged for flea market vendors.
Swartz said organizers have been unable to estimate past attendance since the event is free but that the
festival’s nearly 30-year lifespan proves its popularity among area residents.
"It’s just good old hometown entertainment and fun," Swartz said.
More information about the festival is available online at www.luckeyfallfestival.com or by calling (419)
266-9855.
