Lions Club, state historic site offer special attractions
A parade, activities for the family, music and special activities at a state historic site will be offered during the Levi Coffin Days Festival in Fountain City on Saturday and Sunday.
The Fountain City Lions Club organizes the festival and special activities are offered by the Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site. The Lions Club is observing the 75th anniversary of its founding.
The historic site’s staff worked with the Lions Club to develop a self-guided scavenger hunt involving locations within Fountain City. Festival visitors can pick up a list of clues for the scavenger hunt at the historic site and other places during the festival. Those who bring a completed clue list to the historic site will receive a keepsake, said Joanna Hahn, Central Regional Director for State Historic Sites.
Activities start at 10 a.m. Saturday with the playing of the National Anthem by Jimmy Ray Doll. Following that, at 11 a.m., the parade will begin on South Street next to the baseball diamond. It will end on North Street.
A kiddy tractor pull for ages 8 and under will take place from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the basketball court at the fire station.
From noon to 3 p.m., the Fire and Ice Band will play from the Lions Club Outdoor Stage. At 3 p.m., Fountain City Police will have a K9 demonstration in front of the Northeastern Early Learning Center.
Saturday evening, the Wildheart Band will play from the Lions Club Outdoor Stage.
Sunday’s activities include a kids chalk art competition from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in front of the Levi and Catharine Coffin mural on Main Street. A sawdust dig for ages 12 and under starts at noon at the Lions Den.
From 2-4 p.m., the Andrew Jackson Country Band will play on the Lions Club Outdoor Stage.
A featured activity at the Levi and Catharine Coffin State Historic Site will be a live appearance by a Levi Coffin interpreter, Bennett Ayers, at 1 p.m. Saturday. He will tell of Coffin’s experiences as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, helping enslaved persons on their journey to freedom before and during the American Civil War.
The state historic site is centered around the house where Levi and Catharine Coffin lived in Fountain City, then known as Newport, at 201 U.S. 27 North. It includes an interpretive center. Guided tours of the historic site will be offered both Saturday and Sunday.
The site will be open after Saturday’s parade, from noon to 5 p.m., and on Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission will be discounted by $2 both days, Hahn said.