Festival Day Approaches

Here are some particulars about the 2nd annual Fall into Fun Festival on Saturday, September 29:

The rain date will be October 6. A notice will be posted here if the festival is postponed. Vendors will be notified via email or phone call. If a vendor is unable to participate at the new date, they can call the Lancaster County Library to receive a receipt for a tax-deductible donation to the library.

The festival is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be a 5k Run/Walk and Toddler Trot starting at 8:30 a.m. in front of the Sales Center. Click the "Running to Read" link to the right for a registration form, or just arrive 30 minutes early to register on site.

Here is a link to driving directions

So far there are about 140 business and artist booths registered for this event. That's just about twice as many as last year! These booths will be in front of the Lake House in the parking lots on either side.

The children's area will also be in a parking lot in front of the Lake House. It will be in the back half of the lot on the left side. Two venues with live entertainment will operate there. The library will have performers scheduled throughout the day. In between those performances, teachers from Indian Land Elementary and Middle School will offer storytelling, characters and crafts.

We also have a large petting zoo by Claude Ellis, the Van Wyck train, and 10 churches offering craft tables for children. Children can buy wristbands for $5 to enjoy these activities.

Festival t-shirts will be available for sale for $5 each. We have several generous t-shirt sponsors who made that happen. Shirts will be for sale at the wristband booths and the Indian Land Rotary table.

The teen area will have a dunking booth, a pitching timer, NASCAR show car, two U.S. Army Humvees, and a huge inflatable obstacle course. This is an inflatable that is designed for teens and adults. For an idea of what that looks like, see yesterday's blog entry for a link to a video on youtube.

Lunch food vendors are many and varied. There will also be breakfast items offered by The Cookhouse and Morris Haynes, coffee vendor for the Lake House.

The car and motorcycle show will be held at the golf club further down Del Webb Blvd. The parking lot at the club has been specifically designed so as to make it nearly impossible for parked cars to be hit by golf balls. There will also be a putting contest held there by the car show.

Bands and musical groups, as well as roving characters, will entertain the crowds throughout the day. For a schedule of music, check this blog later in the week.

We'll see you at the festival!

Mahogany Games - Adrenaline Rush Obstacle Course - Bolaji

This is the inflatable we'll have at the Fall into Fun Festival this year on September 29

$1.9 Million! $300,000 to GO!!

Friday we received a check for $25,000 from HSBC,
putting us at $1.9 million. This leaves us only about
$300,000 short, depending on the bids of course, and
about $100,000 of that can be scraped up from state
grants and lottery receipts. Since we have over a year
before the building is completed, we are in good
shape.

It's Official!

We are sending out bid notices tomorrow to the major news papers and construction trades. they will be published Sunday, Sept. 16. Bids will be due Oct. 17. The library board will meet that night or the next day to consider the bids.

We are a little nervous that bids will come in for more money than we have. But we have built a nice cushion in our money pot to accommodate a reasonable increase of construction costs over the plans from two years ago, so we are hoping for the best.

We are about $300,000 short of the $2.2M we have determined is needed for the project. That's $1.5M for the building and the rest for furnishings and books. This morning library director Richard Band spoke to the Indian Land Rotary about the project and fielded a few questions from members about naming opportunities.

We also have a Rotary member that is in construction and his company will be interested in offering a bid. They are located in Richburg, SC, but most of the workers are here in Indian Land.

Wouldn't it be cool if our library were built for Indian Land by Indian Land residents?

Fall Into Fun Update

Carolina Gateway: September 12

Indian Land-September 29 is fast approaching and volunteers have been scouring Indian Land, Fort Mill and beyond, looking for fun things to see and do at the second annual Fall into Fun Festival to benefit the new Indian Land Library.

The day will begin with a 5k Run/Walk & Toddler Trot, called “Running to Read.” Sponsored by Crossroads Lutheran Church and Barry Adams Allstate, the run will begin at 8:30 and be over by the time the festival starts at 10 a.m. Registration forms are available for download. Email runningtoread@yahoo.com for more information. All participants will receive a festival t-shirt and there will be cash prizes for fastest male and female runners, as well as gifts for all children.

Plans for the children’s area at the festival are coming together nicely, with craft tables being offered by area churches (7 so far, with more to register soon), an inflatable moon bounce, a petting zoo (bigger this year – with more animals, including a llama), children’s performers in the library staging area, and also an outdoor living room with storytelling, book reading, songs and entertainment by Indian Land teachers. The library area will have a juggler, magician, puppets and professional storyteller. Wristbands for all children’s and teen activities are $5 and will work in both areas.

The teen area is still not quite together, but we know we will have a couple of U.S. Army Humvees, a NASCAR show car, and a pitching machine. We are working on a dunking booth, mechanical bull, and a skateboard area. We have also booked “The Walls of Elim,” a teen Christian Rock band from Lancaster, and have a few Indian Land school student groups that will play short sets throughout the day. Watch this column next week for more information about this area. We expect to have more confirmed activities by mid-week. If you have a line on skateboard stuff, or if you have a teen band that would like to play, please let us know. Email us at indianlandlibrary@gmail.com.

The business area is already larger than last year, with close to 90 registered businesses and artists. And the food offerings will be quite diverse: Lee Blackwell’s BBQ, Mike’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream, Figaro’s Pizza, Paul’s Hot Dogs, and the Indian Land and Pleasant Valley Fire Departments will all be on hand to ensure full stomachs.

A car and motorcycle show, silent auction, and 50/50 raffle are all planned, so this festival promises to have something for everyone.

Also as a closing note: watch next Sunday’s Lancaster News. Bid advertisements for the Indian Land library project will be in the September 16 edition. We should be able to break ground by November 1. It’s really going to happen, folks!