Weekend festival to offer fun, vendors galore

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Marion’s 2025 Chingawassa celebration will offer no shortage of activities, shopping opportunities, and food and drink to tickle taste buds.

This year’s vendors will include:

• Face painting.
• JR Hatters Mercantile.
• Road Side Ranch Design, which offers clothes for men, women, and babies along with artistic shoes, caps, candles, cups, vanity license plates, placemats, kitchen towels, hair brushes, backpacks, koozies, and original artwork.
• My Whimsey by Jill, which offers vintage silverware jewelry.
• Renata’s Garden, which brings a converted school bus in which she sells plants and educates visitors about horticulture.
• Next Level Nutrition, based in Marion and Hillsboro, offering teas and shakes.
• Permanent Jewelry by Grace.
• D’zz Spot Reptarium and Educational Center, Burns, a reptile rescue and education facility.
• Rockin O’Neill Farms, which offers baked sourdough treats.
• Twisted Fudge, based in Marion, which offers assorted flavors of homemade fudges.
• S&S Med Spa, a Marion-based spa and health provider.
• Champion Bath bathroom remodeler.
• Henna tattoos and light-up toys.
• IdeaTek Internet provider.
• Masonic Lodge.

Food vendors

Food vendors will include:

• Dirty sodas.
• Kettlecorn.
• Carlsons’ barbecue.
• Tortas Mary.
• Battered and Fried.
• M&M Concessions.
• Watts Cooking.
• Little Miss B.
• Global Grill.
• Wagon Wheel Express.
• Salisbury Sweets.
• Gambino’s Pizza.

Friday

Activities will begin at 5 p.m. Friday with a second-hand western fashion show and Rhino’s Den beer garden.

A free community barbecue will begin at 5:30 p.m. followed by a free ice cream social at 6 p.m. and live music by the Sam Shilts Trio.

Steel Skarecrow and Dallas Pryor will follow on the main stage.

Saturday

A 7 a.m. pancake feed and kids’ face painting by Bill and Essie’s BBQ will start the morning.

Sleepy Pete bed races will be at 8:30 a.m. A disc golf tournament and Chinga Chalk contest will be at 9 a.m.

At 9:30 a.m. Cha-Chinga Scavenger Hunt will get under way.

A half mile speed walk race will begin at 9:45 a.m.

Kids Zone inflatables, mechanical bull riding, and mini Dinky Duck races will open at 10 a.m.

Pick Your Luck, with first and second place winners, will be at 10:15 a.m.

Dinky Duck races and pictures with Pete the rhino will be at 10:30 a.m.

Rhino’s Den beer garden will open at 11 a.m., along with a cornhole tournament and live music by Sam Unruh.

Dar’s Texas Hold’em will start at noon. A rock/paper/scissors game is planned at 12:30 p.m., followed by rhino-size jenga at 1 p.m. and human battleship at 1:15 p.m.

Fortnite Emote battle and a watermelon feed will begin at 2 p.m. Bingo and a paper airplane contest will kick off at 2:30 p.m.

Pictures with Pete will reopen at 3 p.m. along with a heads and tails game. Wagon Wheel Express’ lemon/lime pucker up will start at 3:30 p.m.

Sam Unruh will perform again at 4 p.m. Cornhole board drawings will be at 6:30 p.m.

Southhall takes to the stage at 7:30 p.m. followed by the Josh Abbott Band at 9 p.m.

Sunday

A community church service at 10:30 a.m. will wrap up the weekend event.