Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
As Freedom Fest - a celebration in Kosciusko County for America’s 250th birthday - rapidly approaches, the committee organizing the three-day event continues to make plans, seek donations and energize the public for it.
Mike Loher, community coordinator for Kosciusko’s America 250th activities, updated the Kosciusko County Council Thursday night on the plans for June 5-7.
“We are in the process of finding funding to help put this festival together, this Freedom Festival. We need support from our local governments. We need our local governments - the county, the city - to get excited for this. We’re never going to do this again, so if you guys could look this (folder of information) over and see how you guys could participate - I know the city of Warsaw, I can’t speak for them, but it sounds favorable that they’re going to be on board with some support and possibly in some multiple ways,” Loher said.
Rhonda Helser, Freedom Fest committee member, said they’re having meetings and are trying to get things going.
Events the Freedom Fest committee have already booked, according to Loher, include an opening ceremony on the evening of June 5 at Warsaw’s Central Park, organized by Paula Bowman.
“Most everything else will be held at the fairgrounds on Friday evening, all day Saturday and then there will be some things going on Sunday,” he said.
The Kosciusko County Historical Society received a grant to bring in some Stone’s Trace reenactors from the Miami Indian Nation. Loher said they’re going to be creating an encampment to show what life was like in the 1800s.
Echoes of the Past will be there to do a tractor show and demonstration for a car show. “Vendors, quilt show, art show. The Historical Society is going to be using the log cabin at the fairgrounds,” Loher said.
“One of the goals that we wanted for Freedom Fest was to create an opportunity for our local not-for-profits and service clubs to benefit,” he continued. “So, LITE Recovery is taking advantage of that and they’re going to be organizing a 5K. Live Well Kosciusko County is going to be coming out soon with a campaign to walk 250 miles. Expressions Salon, here in town, is sponsoring a beard and mullet contest.”
There’s a plan to have the second largest flying flag in the nation at the fairgrounds. It is 65 feet by 125 feet, “larger than a basketball court,” Loher stated. The flag is owned by a veterans organization that uses the money they make off of flying the flag around the country to support veterans. “That is a good cause that we can stand behind,” he said. It takes two 80-foot cranes to fly the flag.
“We’re also going to be creating a veterans wall, so if anybody has a picture of a veteran and/or service member that they want to bring up and put on the wall for the weekend, we’d love to have that,” Loher said.
Ken Locke is working on a veterans program to honor veterans and service members.
“This is really exciting. We have not announced this yet. But we have approval from the FAA and the Pentagon for an Air Force flyover. So we’re pretty excited about that,” Loher said. “We’re working with the fighter base in Fort Wayne. Obviously, things could happen between now and then so nothing is guaranteed.”
The committee has their fingers crossed that the flyover will happen.
There will be a concert that evening, with a goal of having fireworks over Winona Lake Saturday evening.
One of the committee’s goals is to get the lights changed to shine red, white and blue on the county courthouse. Locke also got a grant through the Warsaw Ministerial Association to line the streets of downtown Warsaw with American flags, and those are supposed to be up by Memorial Day weekend, Loher stated.
“Some of the things that the state is asking all of the communities to do is a time capsule. They want us to plant a Liberty tree. They want everybody to focus on 250, so that can be 250 ... ways of giving back. They want everybody to create a sense of community. It’s just come together and let’s celebrate America,” he said.
Freedom Fest is not going to be a political event, Loher emphasized. “If you want to campaign, this is not the place for that. We want that to be clear. This is for fun, for America’s birthday.”
Councilman Will Stockdale asked, “How much money are you looking to raise from all sources?”
“A lot,” Loher replied. “So, originally, when our committee got together, we worked with (Visit Kosciusko County Executive Director) Cori Humes. And if we could come up with $1.5 million - it’s huge, right? - but you’ve got to start somewhere. The economic impact, direct and indirect result of that, which would get you an A-list artist to come and do a show. Pick one - Jason Aldean, or whoever, Reba, whoever.”
“George Strait,” Stockdale said.
“George would be great,” Loher agreed. “That has the potential for an economic impact to our community of $5.8 to $6.3 million, which would be huge in tourism.”
Loher acknowledged they have a ways to go to get to that goal.
Freedom Fest will be free, but the concert would be a ticketed event.
Asked if they were finding a lot of formal business support, Loher admitted it’s been slow.
“I think everybody’s concentrating on staying warm right now, but now is the time to be booking this stuff and getting it secured. We have gotten multiple in-kind donations and commitments, upwards of $50,000, to do improvements at the fairgrounds so we can give the fairgrounds a facelift so it can be a venue that we all can be proud of, too,” Loher said.
Councilman Joe Irwin said he assumed that with that, Loher would be looking for volunteers. “Absolutely,” Loher responded.
Security, traffic flow, trash and “all of those things” are being looked at.
Stockdale asked, “June 5 is coming up. You feel like you’re on track?”
“I feel like we’re a little behind. I blame the state a little bit on that because we were late to the party,” Loher said.
Councilwoman Rachael Rhoades said she noticed they had a lot of letters of support from state and federal officials. Loher said that was cool and listed the endorsements from the governor, lieutenant governor, Second District U.S. Congressman Rudy Yakym, state Rep. Craig Snow and Warsaw Mayor Jeff Grose.
“Has the state been a partner in this, as far as more than just letters?” Rhoades asked.
Loher said former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb put the America 250 Commission together when he was in office, which then “trickled” down to Gov. Mike Braun. One of the jobs of one of the commission members was to find a county coordinator for each of the 92 counties. Loher said there was a confusion, and the person they reached out to in Kosciusko County “didn’t go anywhere.” He said a few people started talking about America 250, they made contact with the state but it took the lieutenant governor to figure out who the one person in Kosciusko County was that was supposed to serve as the local coordinator. That person didn’t have any interest in serving, so Loher was asked to do it.
Rhoades asked if there were any financial commitments from the state.
Loher responded he gets a newsletter about every three to four weeks from the state commission. For the last three months, “they’ve been telling us that there’s supposed to be grant money coming available. But that’s where it’s at.”
He said he did find a grant for up to $500,000 on grants.gov if you’re celebrating America 250 in Japan.
The website is at kcfreedomfest.org
