SPY’s Community Newsletter #156
(8/27/21)
2021 Sunfield Farmers Picnic Highlights
The Sunfield Farmers Picnic kicked off on Friday, August 20 with a half chicken dinner cooked by High’s Rotary Grill and sponsored by the Sunfield United Brethren Church. Each patron received a beautiful note card in a bag on which was written “God Bless You” and a bookmark. 2019 Princess Gabbriella Teachout placed the crowns on the 2021 Prince Landyn Hilts and Princess Tatum Petrie. Their Royal Court included Kolton Lee Ketchum, Milli Ann Pickens and Kaelinn Kelly. Each child was all smiles to receive a big bag of surprises. Children of all ages had fun with Cook’s Peddle Pull where the winners were Emerson Guy (1st), Lucas Coffman (2nd) and Tatum Petrie (3rd) in the 3 – 4 year old group; Trace Mesecar (1st), Wesley Brummette (2nd) and Audrey Thomas (3rd) in the 5 – 6 year old group; Catlyn Mesecar (1st) and Dellan Holland (2nd) in the 7 – 8 year old group; Avery Shoup (1st), Quinn Brummette (2nd) and Pheenyx Eberly (3rd) in the 9 – 10 year old group and Nick Rogers (1st) and Alvan Carrasco (2nd) in the 11-12 year old group. Each participant received a participation ribbon and an individual bottle of Mooville milk and an ink pen donated by Nutrien Ag Solutions.
A SPY's Community Foundation 2021 scholarship was presented to Tara Weller in the amount of $5,000. She was also awarded $500 and the Lenon Community Service Award. The Community Foundation also presented their Distinguished Service Award to Bill Weller. Other SPY's Community Awards presented were: Wayne Simmons receiving the Rookie-Of-The-Year Award; Shana Cappon received an Outstanding Service Award; John Fisher received the Distinguished Service Award; The HSV Redi-Mix Employees received the Friend Of Kids Award; The United Brethren Church received an Outstanding Service Award; Centennial Acres Golf Course received an Exceptional Support Award; Mapes Furniture Company received the Corporate Sponsor of the Year Award. The grand marshal reception honoring Art and Eunice Boulis concluded the evenings honors in which they were presented with a State Tribute on behalf of State Representative Angela Witwer.
On Saturday, the Grand Parade, themed “Small Town Proud”, included Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich, Tom Barrett for State Senator with the Lakewood High School Marching Viking Band and dozens of antique tractors, trucks and cars as well as floats representing the Sunfield Historical Society, the Sunfield District Library’s Summer Reading Program, Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Prince and Princess and their Royal Court. Fire trucks from Sunfield, Odessa Twp., Woodland Twp., Berlin-Orange Twp. and Campbell Twp. participated. Children lining the Village streets scooped up lots of candy. The Second Classic Car Cruz-in organized by Paul Campbell took place on Main Street after the parade with 40 - 50 vehicles. The Best of Show winners were Julie Holley of Augusta with her 1941 Chevy Pick-Up, Don Cairns of Lansing with his 1957 Chevy Bel Air car, Tony Jackson of Lake Odessa with his 1947 Cushman with sidecar and Paul Campbell of Charlotte with his 1963 Cub Cadet pulling tractor.
The fourth annual Home Run Derby had 12 entries. Dustin Courtney won with 5 homeruns over James Hyatt's 4 homeruns. The fifth annual Sunfield Farmers Picnic Cornhole Tournament got underway at 2 p.m. with a total of 32 teams participating in the Cornhole Tournament that ended just before the fireworks. Tier 1 Division (with 16 teams) winners were 1st place – Adam & Broclyn Rairigh, 2nd place – Mike and Mitch Pienta and 3rd place – Jeremy Lamer and Kyle McCambridge. In the Tier 2 Division (with 16 teams) winners were 1st place – Nathan Willette and Charlie Everett, 2nd place – Jaden W. and Andy W. and 3rd place – Tyler Erb and Trent Brummette.
There was the Sunfield Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY’s) Dime Pitch booth, Daughters of the Union Veterans Dart Booth and Mason Railtime Adventures providing games and rides for children of all ages as well as BINGO for the adults provided by the Portland Area Service Group. Ming the Magician entertained children of all ages under the Big Tent.
Marbles the Clown entertained many children with balloon creations. Several crafters and six food vendors including Joe’s Gizzard Wagon, Tommie’s Family Catering, Gobblin’ Good To Go, Lakewood Wrestling, the Methodist Mint and Bailey’s Elephant Ears. In the seventh annual float decorating contest, there were only three entries.
The Sunfield Historical Society won with their entry which had mannequins "getting married" while wearing uniforms and wedding dresses including Julie and Shane Hilts waving to the crowd in formal wedding attire. The dress worn by Julie was bought at a thrift shop with the wedding announcement, a picture of the owner and her obituary attached for Helen Eva Bartz who married Gordon R. Johnson on June 19, 1948 in Lansing, Michigan and passed on April 24, 2018. It fit Julie Hilts exactly and that is what started the theme for the float. The uniforms were donated by local veterans or their families, and the wedding dresses from brides of the past, some back to 1900. The Sunfield District Library came in second and the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War took third place.
Seven Best of Show ribbons were presented during the Open Class Craft Exhibit sponsored by the SPY’s to Pamela Atlleberger for her Nature photo of two Dandelions; Lance Eldridge for his Animal photo of an Eagle in flight over the water; his People photo of a Military Reenactment and in the Other photo category his entry of a military airplane, as judged by Jody Strang; Deb Ostertag with her artwork of a calf drawn in pencil, Jackie Mullholland for her “Cardinal” quilt, which also won the People’s Choice Award and Tracy Storey with her crocheted afghan with cross stitching as judged by Sherry Eberly and Sheila Carpenter. There were 84 items exhibited by 44 participants.
The Frog Jumping Contest had two categories this year, those that collected and brought their own frog (seven children) and those that used frogs from the communities’ bucket (12 children) that were collected by Oren Best. Some of the winners included: Tatum Petrie for the Smallest Jumping Frog; Tyson Johnson had the longest jump total of 124 inches in a combined three jumps with his best named frog Babbitts; Braeleigh Miller’s frog Fred won second place with Fred jumping 74” and being awarded the largest frog and Will Thorington earned third place with his frog jumping 70”. In the Community frog jump event Gage LaRoche’s frog took first place with 103” jumped and Brendan Gawne’s frog took second place with 92” jumped. There was even some excitement when a very large frog took off on its own adventure and had to be captured several feet away from the jumping ring.
The beloved Ox Roast sandwiches sold out quickly. The Sunfield Farmers Picnic 2021 Merchants Raffle third place prize of a $100 Van Neste-Wilson gift certificate was won by Sara Carrasco, second place prize of a Bench donated by Polly Products in Mulliken was won by Braydon Mays and Mapes Furniture donated a reclining rocker which was won by Kurt Sandborn. There were 79 additional prize packages that were awarded throughout the concert of Rockabilly Music with the Gitchel Brothers who sang and entertained the audience for nearly three hours.
This was the 50th Annual SPYs Softball Tournament. There were eight teams competing in the Men's division, finishing in the following order: First Place: Fast Eddies, Second Place: Just 4 Fun, 3: Young Savages, 4: Prestige Worldwide, 5: Best Tax Service, 6: Essential Ballers, 7: Dirty Diamonds, 8: Phantom Plumbing. Most Valuable Player was awarded to Hunter Kemp. In the Co-ed Division, there were five teams: First Place: Big Word Crew, Second Place: 'Mericans, 3: Screwballs, 4: BDE and 5: Los Primos. Jaxson Boucher, Vance O'Mara, Kroy O'Mara, Frankie O'Mara, Shane Arizola, Daniel Salazar, Madison Thomas, Tyson Johnson, Veda Salazar and Keenan Miller braved the high temperature and humidity to keep score during the tournament. The evening ended with a beautiful display of fireworks put on by Pyrotecnico after the National Anthem was sung by Luke Gitchel.
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