SNEAK PEAK 10.8

Friendship Festival, Antique Show this Weekend

 A pair of big events will go forward in Lathrop this week, while one community tradition has been cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Lathrop Friendship Festival, traditionally held in the fall, will take place in downtown Lathrop beginning this Thursday, October 8, and will run through Saturday, October 10. Due to the novelty of its fall time slot this year (the summer show was cancelled during the pandemic), it is fitting that fall will be the theme.

The festival will kick off on Thursday, October 8, with the opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m., the senior adult king and queen contest at 6:45 p.m. and the annual awards ceremony at 7 p.m. The evening’s entertainment will be Kontraban, a classic rock music group, at 8:30 p.m.

The second day of the festival will be anchored by a fun scarecrow building event at 6 p.m. sponsored by the Lathrop PTO. There will be several other crowd games before the festival favorite Soca Jukebox takes the stage at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday will be packed with fun, featuring a long list of events: the dog show at 8 a.m., the chamber’s turkey giveaway at 9 a.m., the baby show at 9 a.m., the Little Mr. Universe and Miss Bathing Beauty contest at 9:30 a.m., Junior Miss contest at 9:45 a.m., Princess Contest at 10 a.m., Junior Prince and Princess at 10:15 a.m., and the Little Mr. and Miss Lathrop contest at 10:30 a.m.

The parade will be at 12:30 p.m., followed by an afternoon and evening of fun, games and music, capped by Lathrop country music artist Cody Vanderau.

The Jones and Company Carnival will be providing fun and games throughout the entire festival.

Also this weekend, the Lathrop Antique Club has announced that they will be hosting their annual Living History Festival on Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10. There will not be a cost to enter, just a free will donation at the gate, and anyone who has a tractor, gas engine, or other demonstration is welcomed to come out and show.

There will be no school children in attendance on the Friday of the show, a tradition ended at the hands of the pandemic. There will be a tractor pull on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. With the summer show being cancelled this year, club members hope to include as much of the summer events with this fall show as they can.

Unfortunately, the Lathrop Fire Department has announced that it will not be hosting its annual Halloween party due to concerns with the COVID-19 virus.