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Better weather boosts Home Days crowd
Better weather boosts Home Days crowd
By SUE REID
Just minutes before Home Days in Solon opened last Thursday, so did the skies. Rainy weather played a large part in the first two days of the four-day event, but it ended with two days of sunny skies and record attendance Saturday.
Intermittent downpours didn’t squelch the enthusiasm of those in attendance on opening day. Solon resident Jackie Hicks said 8-year-old son Josh watched the clock inching toward 5 p.m., when the festival would open.
Josh, a student at Parkside Elementary School, said he could not wait to ride the rides, especially the gravity ride. He and his mother attend the event every year.
Megan Daugherty of Solon also has been coming to Home Days since it “re-opened” 14 years ago. She brings her two children to enjoy the rides, the food and the family fun.
“It’s that nice tradition we can look forward to every year,” Ms. Daugherty said. “It’s good to keep the community together.”
Kristen Walter, a 2003 Solon High School (SHS) graduate, attended the festival with 11 month-old son Joey and husband Bobby, a 1994 SHS graduate. She has been coming to Home Days since high school.
“I like the environment, the people, the ride and the food,” Ms. Walter said, adding she wanted to show Home Days to her son, who especially enjoyed all of the lights. “I used to bring my younger sisters here, and now they are coming to walk around with Joey.”
In addition to food and rides, Home Days featured more than 65 vendors, many of whom embraced the Mardi Gras theme. There were masks, costumes and plenty of beads to go around.
Community Center Director Donald W. Holub said the theme is something that makes the event even more fun.
“It gives us something to rally around,” Mr. Holub said. “With the games and events, you kind of work around that theme. It helps make each one a little bit different for us.”
The parade and floats are another area where the theme is embraced. “The theme is a keeper,” he said of future plans.
The weather did play a factor and affected attendance Thursday and Friday, Mr. Holub said. Money taken in from the rides is how organizers gauge attendance. “Thursday and Friday were very light,” he said, “but we came back Saturday, and it was a record day.”
Home Days typically brings in $6,000 to $7,000 in sales on Thursday, but it was a little more than $3,000 this year, Mr. Holub said. On Friday, it’s typical to bring in about $20,000, with $11,000 this time.
On Saturday, however, Home Days brought in nearly $45,000 in rides, with the last couple of years being about $38,000. Sunday was average, Mr. Holub said, although slightly down at about $27,000.
For the weekend, Home Days was down about $2,000. “In those first two days, it was very difficult for us,” he said, “but Saturday, the weather was almost perfect.”
Mr. Holub and his staff plan to build on the successful aspects of the festival. An example was a tractor race done for the first time.
“It drew a pretty good crowd,” he said of the 150 onlookers. “We will definitely do it again next year.”
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