Sun and fun will be celebrated at Shoemakersville Park during the 63rd Annual Shoemakersville Children’s Fair and Parade on Saturday, June 7.
This year’s theme is ‘Sun, Fun and the Shoey Park: A celebration of summer!’
Always the first Saturday in June, the event is the kick-off to summer in Shoemakersville and is like a Shoemakersville family reunion according to Shilpa Moser, Shoemakersville Recreation Board member. The event which celebrates not only the park, but the children coincides with Children’s Day which is internationally June 1 and is celebrated in many countries.
This year’s parade will begin at 11 a.m. (registration beginning at 10 a.m.) and will include the Hamburg band, Shoemakersville Fire Company along with some guest fire company ambulances, Smokey the bear, Boy Scout troops, the Baseball Association, Lions Club, State Farm Insurance agency and those who embrace the theme and walk in the parade. Prizes are awarded to groups that best fit the theme in their categories.
Grand Marshal for this year is A. Brian Moyer, who was a park leader for 14 years. The parade route for this year has changed from previous years and will not go by Perry Elementary School. It will turn from 4th Street onto Franklin, continue up Noble and then turn left onto Chestnut and follow its regular route.
Following the parade the festivities in the park begin and will run until approximately 3 p.m. The festivities include a petting zoo, carnival games, three bounce houses, face painting, a DJ with entertainment and more. Along with the entertainment will be food including the famous turkey BBQ and fresh cut fries along with the typical fair food. Featured this year will be a memory table from parks years from the past.
Unique to the Shoemakersville Park is the popular game scibble. This year will include a scibble tournament for adults and children. Special t-shirts with ‘Shoey Playground’ on the front and ‘Got Scibble’ on the back will be featured.
As described by the Shoemakersville Recreation Board,’ scibble is a game that is unique to Shoey Park. The game is played on a flat game board that is about 2′ x 3′ long. Numbers are painted on the board. Two players try to flick their checker into the correct number. Numbers are 1-9. The checker must be flicked and the board is turned appropriately to make the shot.’
A previous park attendee, Bud Miller, kindly offered to make scibble boards for the Chinese Raffle which will be held again this year. The raffle will include themed baskets as well as the children’s bikes which have become a tradition.
All proceeds from the event benefit the Shoemakersville Park Program which is June 16 to Aug. 8 this year from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
‘We encourage all previous park leaders and anyone who attended the park to join in the event,’ said the board at a recent planning meeting. The board starts planning for the Children’s Fair and Parade in January all the way up to the day of the event.
‘Without our volunteers we would not be able to make this day possible,’ said members of the board. ‘We would also like to thank those who make donations to the park program for their continued support.’
The Shoemakersville Recreation Board members are Shilpa Moser, Heather Berger, Jennifer Adam, Brian Herbert, Kristi Hartman, Tara Kennedy-Kline and Chris Kline.
For more information on the park program the event, like Shoemakersville Park Program on Facebook.
