The Vandalia Leader

Follow Us On:

Summer Palooza big draw for Vandalia families

Posted on Sunday, August 13, 2023 at 8:16 pm

Recently, the Vandalia Fair Board held their annual Summer Palooza out at the fairgrounds. The day started off at 8 a.m. with the Flea Market setup, followed soon after by the Car Cruse-In, which started at 10 a.m.

The vendors opened their booths about 11 a.m.

A favorite for the kides were the bounce houses, which were provided by the First Christian Church and the Vandalia Fair Board. At noon the food stand started serving their smoky good food—pulled pork nachos, chicken tenders with fries, cheese fries, fried pork tenderloin, cheeseburgers, nachos, and barbecue pork burgers.

Sara Freie, one of the vendors, said that she has been attending this event since it had started.

“We’re one of the originals that came up to the Flea Market,” said Freie. “We absolutely love coming to this event. My favorite part of the Summer Palloza is all of the stuff they have for kids to do.” She has several children of her own, so she brings them along.

“I love that they have so much here for them,” she explained. “It feels like a small town country kind of fair, without the massive costs involved. I think that’s a great contribution to the community, as well.”

The crowds more than met her expectations.

“Today has been really good,” she said. “Even with the weather and it being overcast, its been a fairly normal kind of business day out here, especially for a Saturday. So, it hasn’t been disappointing at all. I love getting to know more people in the community, I’ve only lived out here for about two years so it has been a great way to get to know more people in the area. I also like that I’m selling a product that people are looking for. She sells fresh farm meat through her business, Kissing Cow LLC.

“We also take orders from people want to do a full beef, a half beef, a half hog or a a full hog, or even if they just want bundles of things,” she explained. “We have delivered out to the Vandalia area for free basically since we started. I’d have to say our big ticket item would have to be our patties, we get people who will pre-order our pork patties and our beef patties. The other big ticket items would have to be the burger by pound,” said Freie.

First place in the Mud Pig Catch ages 5 – 8, Khloe Pietzman and Joselyn Pargeon their time was 56.62 seconds, second place was Aubrey Reading and Mya Flowers, their time was 1 minute and 22 seconds. First place for ages 9 – 12 Kylee Gibson and Meridyth Wise with 14.32 seconds. Boys first place ages 9 – 12 was Ean Utterback and Ryder Reading, second place was Emma Evans and Keaton Evans. First place girls ages 13 – 15 Chloe Zumwalt and Elliot Utterback 43.73 seconds, second place Makayla McCurdy 1 minute and 17 seconds. First place age 16 and older Katelyn Pargeon and Dylan Preston, second place Madelynn and Haley Caldwell. Boys first place age 13 – 15 Jackson Fisher and Ty Evans their time was 36.67 seconds.