Crowds gathered along Freeman’s Main Street on Wednesday evening, July 12, while plenty of shoppers showed up at the Freeman Farmers Market, as well. That’s when the Freeman Community Development Corporation and Rural Revival – a local agriculture advocacy organization – sponsored a “Market in the Park, Main Street & More” celebration. Other community businesses and organizations joined in to make the event a success.
Live music by Ted and Alice Miller entertained the many market-goers at the Swimming Pool Park. In addition to the usual, wide assortment of weekly market vendors at the park, home businesses participated in the July celebration with vendor booths downtown.
Freeman’s resident Bike Doctor (also known as Dr. Dennis Ries) was also on hand to fit and distribute bikes donated in June. Dr. Ries gave of his time and used his expertise to refurbish the bikes before making them available to kids and adults in need of a bike.
A Car Show filled the 400 block of Main Street, while free root beer floats were served by the Mr. G’s Tires team. The Freeman Lions volunteered by grilling hot dogs and serving them with chips, and bottled water; the light meal was made available free of charge, courtesy of the Freeman Community Development Corporation.
A focal point for the evening was a 1935 bank robbery re-enactment outside of Vintage Vault Floral at Fourth and Main. The historic account of the robbery – presented on two earlier occasions – continues to draw interest. Now renovated, the Vintage Vault was initially home of the First National Bank where the robbery, as well as kidnapping of the bank president, took place. The performance was directed by Jeremy Waltner, with Seth Loofbourrow serving as the narrator as onlookers watched the events unfold along the street. Heritage Hall Museum and Archives provided the period get-away vehicle for the robbers.
The evening was capped off with some fun for the kids in the form of a money pit. An enthusiastic crowd of kids gathered to dig for treasure in a sand pit outside of the Vintage Vault, with FCDC donating $250 worth of coins for the experience.
A full album of photos from the evening can be found with the July 19 post on the Experience Freeman Facebook page.
A series of three summer celebrations have been arranged for by FCDC and Rural Revival, with the third set to take place on Wednesday, August 9. “Agriculture Appreciation” is the theme for activities that will take place at the Swimming Pool Park and ballpark beginning late in the afternoon. A free bus tour will allow participants to visit four farms located just outside of Freeman. The tours will begin at noon, with advance registration is required. Space is limited to the first 45 individuals to sign up. The schedule and registration details can be found in the “Calendar” section of this website.
