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Liberty Heritage Festival set for this Saturday
By Angie Anaya Borgedalen
The notorious Jesse James Gang as well as a man with stinky feet are among those expected to be lurking around the Square on Saturday, May 17, for the annual Liberty Heritage Festival.
Sponsored by Historic Downtown Liberty Inc., the one-day event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. around and near the downtown Square and focuses attention on the area’s history.
Event coordinator Marilyn Buck said this year’s festival promised to be bigger and better than ever, providing the weather cooperated. While many favorites such as the bank robbery re-enactment in front of the Jesse James Bank Museum, storytelling and free pony rides will be back, there are many new food booths, crafters and activities, she said.
“We have something for everybody,” Buck said. “We’re just hoping that there’s no rain, no tornados and no high winds.”
According to weather forecasters, it is predicted to be 74 degrees that day, cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. If the forecast is near accurate, Buck said she anticipated a much larger crowd than last year, when an estimated 15,000 people attended. The festival was formerly called Spring on the Square.
“We’re doing a lot of advertising and promotion, including an electronic billboard along I-35 and a mass e-mailing,” Buck said. “We have a lot for people to see and do.”
Buck said more than 160 booths and entertainment and activities would be scattered around the Square, in front of the James S. Rooney Justice Center, in Corbin Theatre and in the City Hall parking lot, where the ponies and police and fire department demonstrations will be stationed. The farmers market will be near the fountain.
In addition to the festival, Hillcrest Walk for the Homeless will begin with check-in at 7 a.m. and walkers starting off at 8 a.m. from Rotary Plaza at the corner of Franklin and Gallatin streets.
From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Rotarians will host a Boston butt dinner complete with baked beans, salad and drink for $8.
At 7 p.m. that evening, Liberty Presbyterian Church, 138 N. Main St., will host “From Madrigal to Musical Theatre,” a concert with vocalist Mathew Wilson accompanied by Richard Held on piano. Tickets are $6 at the door or at By the Book on the Square.
Boy Scout Troop 320 will be providing free tours of the Clay County Museum and Historical Society, and a dozen authors will be signing their books in Authors’ Alley in front of City Hall. The Liberty Arts Commission, a group whose mission is to promote public art, sponsors the authors’ booth.
Rich Groves, program manager for HDLI, said they had hoped to offer cell phone tours of local historic sites that day but had been unable to implement the new program as quickly as they had earlier thought. The idea was the brainchild of tech-savvy Eric Langhorst, last year’s Missouri Teacher of the Year.
“We had hoped to have it, but Eric has been so busy with speaking engagements,” Groves said. “We’ll have it soon, but not for the festival.”
Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-9441 or aborgedalen@npgco.com.
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Sponsored by Historic Downtown Liberty Inc., the one-day event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. around and near the downtown Square and focuses attention on the area’s history.
Event coordinator Marilyn Buck said this year’s festival promised to be bigger and better than ever, providing the weather cooperated. While many favorites such as the bank robbery re-enactment in front of the Jesse James Bank Museum, storytelling and free pony rides will be back, there are many new food booths, crafters and activities, she said.
“We have something for everybody,” Buck said. “We’re just hoping that there’s no rain, no tornados and no high winds.”
According to weather forecasters, it is predicted to be 74 degrees that day, cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. If the forecast is near accurate, Buck said she anticipated a much larger crowd than last year, when an estimated 15,000 people attended. The festival was formerly called Spring on the Square.
“We’re doing a lot of advertising and promotion, including an electronic billboard along I-35 and a mass e-mailing,” Buck said. “We have a lot for people to see and do.”
Buck said more than 160 booths and entertainment and activities would be scattered around the Square, in front of the James S. Rooney Justice Center, in Corbin Theatre and in the City Hall parking lot, where the ponies and police and fire department demonstrations will be stationed. The farmers market will be near the fountain.
In addition to the festival, Hillcrest Walk for the Homeless will begin with check-in at 7 a.m. and walkers starting off at 8 a.m. from Rotary Plaza at the corner of Franklin and Gallatin streets.
From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Rotarians will host a Boston butt dinner complete with baked beans, salad and drink for $8.
At 7 p.m. that evening, Liberty Presbyterian Church, 138 N. Main St., will host “From Madrigal to Musical Theatre,” a concert with vocalist Mathew Wilson accompanied by Richard Held on piano. Tickets are $6 at the door or at By the Book on the Square.
Boy Scout Troop 320 will be providing free tours of the Clay County Museum and Historical Society, and a dozen authors will be signing their books in Authors’ Alley in front of City Hall. The Liberty Arts Commission, a group whose mission is to promote public art, sponsors the authors’ booth.
Rich Groves, program manager for HDLI, said they had hoped to offer cell phone tours of local historic sites that day but had been unable to implement the new program as quickly as they had earlier thought. The idea was the brainchild of tech-savvy Eric Langhorst, last year’s Missouri Teacher of the Year.
“We had hoped to have it, but Eric has been so busy with speaking engagements,” Groves said. “We’ll have it soon, but not for the festival.”
Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-9441 or aborgedalen@npgco.com.