Riveting River Fest planned

HURON — Expect some old favorites and new twists with Huron's annual River Fest event. Most notably, regarding the differences, what was once a three-day festival is now an "action-packed" two-day celebration, promising more excitement and fun than ever before," according to event organizers. The fun begins on Friday and ends on Saturday at the Huron Boat Basin & Amphitheater 330 North Main St., Huron. But many popular attractions, including fireworks, make their triumphant return. Here's a look at the scheduled festivities: Friday • 5 p.m. — The fun begins with opening ceremonies; rides and games; and food vendors. Claire Daugherty, a recent Huron High School graduate, will perform the national anthem. • 5:30-8:30 p.m. — A princess meet-and-greet will take place. • 6 p.m. — The queen's pageant takes place on the amphitheater's stage. • 7-10 p.m. — Townline 26 to perform. • 10:15 p.m. — Fireworks will light up the night's sky. They'll blast off over the Huron River. Saturday • 7 a.m. — Registration for the 5K begins. • 8:30 a.m. — The 5K race begins. • 9:15 a.m. — Fun run race begins. Awards for both the 5K and fun run will happen after the fun run. • 11 a.m. — The festival grounds reopen with food vendors, rides and games. The Huron Lions Club River Fest Parade also kicks off, going down Cleveland Road West. • 12:30 p.m. — An awards presentation for the parade will commence. • 1 p.m. — Huron High School cheerleaders to perform. • 1:30 p.m. — Huron High School's choir to perform. • 2:30 p.m. — Bryce and Rylie Mullen to perform. • 4:30 p.m. — Hunter Klein and the Colt 45's to perform. • 7 p.m. — SoulPilot to perform. Why you should come William Biddlecombe, River Fest's main organizer and a Huron city council member, provided a statement about this year's event, why changes occurred and all the work going into this yearly staple: The biggest thing festival goers will notice is the modified schedule of events. Over the winter, we put out a survey asking what people liked, didn't like and what they would do differently.The overwhelming response was that people didn't feel Sunday was necessary. The St. Pete's duck race will still be on Sunday, but festival favorites — like the Huron cheerleaders and the Huron Schools choir — will move to Saturday following the parade. Also, this year, our rides are back. Unfortunately, last year, our ride company canceled on us last minute due to an inadvertent double booking. We definitely heard that the rides were an important part of the festival that people missed last year, so we ensured that we would have them back for this year's festival. As per usual, the festival is packed with great entertainment: • Highlighting our opening ceremony this year will be Claire Daugherty, singing the national anthem. • Moved from Sunday to Friday, we will have our princess meet-and-greet. Townline 26 will take the stage following our queen's pageant. And then Friday concludes with our always-popular fireworks display over the rver. • Saturday kicks off with the 5K hosted again by the Huron 5K series. At 11 a.m. will be the Huron Lions Club River Fest parade. Then we go right into a big block of entertainment at the stage starting at 1 p.m. with the Huron cheerleaders, Huron choir, Bryce and Rylie Mullen, Hunter Klein & the Colt 45's and SoulPilot finishes out the day. • This year, we'll have a few new food vendors to provide a wider variety of options and a bunch more craft-style vendors as well this year. We'll definitely have something for everyone. A huge thank you to all of our sponsors this year as well as our partners: the Huron Lions Club, the Huron 5K series and Huron Parks & Recreation. And finally, thank you to the amazing team of volunteers who spend so much time working through the entire year to ensure that the Huron River Fest continues to be one of the region's favorite events every year.