Peony Festival Weekend

This weekend is the annual event that put our little town on the map --- the Peony Festival. There is a long history of the big event, starting back at the turn of the century.

"Van Wert is a special city with a special history. One chapter of this history is dedicated to a beautiful flower - the Peony. Soon after the turn-of-the-century in 1900 the Peony became known by gardeners in Van Wert and within a few years "Peony Sunday" became a popular event. Large crowds gathered in Van Wert to see the Peony blooms, usually near the first of June.

In 1932 the very first Peony Festival was held. This was an expansion of Peony Sunday and started the tradition of an annual Peony Parade. Van Wert became famous as "The Peony Center of the World", or shown on maps as "The Peony Capital of the World," during the 1930s thru the 1950s.

The Festivals continued until 1960 except for a break with the beginning of WWII through 1954. The Festival was started again in 1992. Van Wert has continued the celebration of the Peony every year since. 2013 will be the 38th Peony Festival."
(the pictures below were taken at the 2008 and 2010 festivals)
 

 This is the Queen's float 2012

 Van Wert High School marching band -- always a joy to hear these kids play. They are so good.

Today is the car show on Main Street. We have the 2 youngest grandsons today so when Teresa gets off work this afternoon we're taking the boys uptown to see the old cars and take in some of the activities in Fountain Park.  Tomorrow evening is the big parade. I'm not sure if I'm going up with them. That entails a lot of walking and standing on concrete, plus fighting the crowd. But we'll see how I feel. I know Bob won't want to go. He hates crowds and standing in the sun.

It looks like the weather is going to be very nice all weekend. Highs in the upper 70's with lots of sunshine.

I hope you have a great weekend. Take care.