Asparagus festival kicks off

Downtown Hart is busy with activity this afternoon as the 41st Annual National Asparagus Festival begins.

By Allison Scarbrough. OCP Editor.

HART — The downtown is hopping this afternoon as the 41st Annual National Asparagus Festival kicks off.

Tim and Rya Putney of Tee’s Dyes in Kaleva sell their colorful creations at the NAF arts and crafts fair. The pair, who has a combined 51 years of experience in making tie dye garments, has participated in NAF for over a decade.

Beautiful sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s make for perfect weather for this year’s festival. Thousands of festival goers are expected to flock to Hart tomorrow for NAF’s biggest day.

The arts and crafts fair on the Oceana County Courthouse lawn opened this morning and continues through 6 p.m. The fair runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Children’s activities will take place downtown today from 4-6 p.m.,  a puppet show by Richard Paul is set for 6:30-8 p.m. in the Hart Commons.

A full slate of activities is on tap for tomorrow, including the highlight event — the Joan Glover NAF Royale Parade at 2 p.m. The parade begins near the Oceana County Fairgrounds and continues down

Vendors are set up downtown to sell their tasty treats.

State Street to downtown. Watch for Oceana County’s newly-crowned Asparagus Queen Danielle Kokx and runner-up Erin Fisher, among many other parade entrants.

The famous Scottville Clown Band will perform after the parade at 3:30 p.m. in the

entertainment tent next to Hart Pizza.

For more information about the festival and all of the events, visit www.nationalasparagusfestival.org. Or, you can visit the new NAF information booth in the office space next to La Fiesta in downtown Hart. It will be open until 5 p.m. today and Saturday.