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WINONA LAKE - Maybe it’s because the cookout is right before the start of school. Or maybe because it’s free. Or, maybe, the “Jack Them Up on Mt. Dew and Send Them Back to School Special” is so popular because of the Mountain Dew.
Whatever the reason, hundreds of kids and their parents from all over the county and beyond turned out Monday for the sixth year of the two-hour food and fun event at the Miller Sunset Pavilion.
“It started about six years ago. Six years ago, we had our Winona Lake Family Day on the Saturday before this event. One day we came into the council chambers and they had all the food left and everything sitting around. I’m like, ‘So what are we going to do with all of this food?’ And they were like, ‘I don’t know.’ I said, ‘Why don’t we just have an event on the following Monday and just open it up to just anybody who wants to come get food?’ I said, ‘Well, we’ve got to do Mountain Dew at this thing,’” Winona Lake Police Chief Joe Hawn recalled.
Holly Hummitch, Winona Lake Limitless Park director, said they couldn’t call it the “Jack Them Up On Mt. Dew and Send Them Back to School Special” because parents won’t let their kids have Mountain Dew anymore.
“Well, as you look around here, that’s not true,” Hawn said, pointing out to all the tables with cans of Mountain Dew on them. “There’s a lot of Mountain Dew. We go through 10 cases of Mountain Dew. We might actually have to go get more.”
Hawn said it’s just been an incredible annual event.
“It kind of exploded,” he said. “Really, the first year we didn’t have any advertisement, we didn’t really get anything out and we still had a couple hundred people. But, as you can see, it’s just exploded where the kids come out. We get the bouncy houses. We get the peddle cars from the church. It’s just a real fun event and everybody comes out and supports it. Just for fun, and it’s all free.”
Hawn said they get donations for the event. Silveus Insurance made a donation for Saturday’s Family Festival as well as Monday’s cookout.
“They are very supportive of this event, and we really appreciate that, obviously. We wouldn’t be able to do this without Silveus donating towards it,” he stated.
The first few years the cook out took place at the Winona Lake Limitless Park. In 2023, due to rain, it was moved to the Miller Sunset Pavilion and has been held there ever since.
“It’s so easy, it’s so easy to have it here because everything’s already set up. So, we already have it set up (from the Family Festival) so all that we do is come in, get this (food) line set up and we’re good,” Hawn said.
All the people grilling and serving the food are volunteers from Winona Restoration, Winona Lake officer Mike Wilson, Hummitch, Hawn’s wife and Central Dispatch.
“Everything’s volunteer,” Hawn stated. “It all kind of runs itself, I’ll be honest.”
While the Family Festival is specifically for Winona Lake residents, the “Jack Them Up on Mt. Dew” cook out is for anyone from anywhere.
“We’ve had people from out of state come in and go, ‘What’s going on?’ We’re like, ‘Come on in and eat!’ We’ve had them out of state. Anybody’s invited. This is not just Winona Lake. This is for everybody, that’s why we’ve got so many kids. You can see the number of kids here, it’s crazy. But, again, adults come. It’s for everybody. It’s not just for kids, but it’s great to have the kids here,” he said.
Next year’s event will be held at the same time - the Monday following the Family Festival.
“We just do it. It’s fun. It’s just a come out and have fun event, as you can see,” Hawn said.
