Canal Days sets record for attendance

By Nancy Spencer, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, September 23, 2008 (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Canal Days Committee members Eric Fritz, left, and Jim Grothouse present Tina Wannemacher with the $4,000 check Sunday. Wannemacher was the Big Ticket Drawing winner.DELPHOS — It was a weekend for the record books.
Record crowds, record sales in the social tent and a record number of entries in the parade made the 2008 Canal Days a huge success.
“The community came out and supported Canal Days and we couldn’t do it without them,” Canal Days Chairman Tony Wehri said Sunday evening.
The core committee consisting of Wehri, Bruce VanMetre, Jim Grothouse and Eric Fritz have agreed to stay on and plan next year’s events.
“We have just gotten such a good volunteer response that it has become almost routine,” Wehri said. “Everyone knows what to do and it all gets done. When we need help, it shows up.”
From beginning to end, the festival was bigger and better than last year. The Toast to the City on Thursday evening had more than 250 in attendance, nearly twice last year’s crowd. Many stayed and toured historic downtown Delphos.
On Friday, 14 teams participated in the Battle of the Businesses, also more than twice the participation compared to last year. Vanamatic Team #2 came away the victors and the trophy will be displayed at Vanamatic.
The Social Tent was just as full Friday as Saturday. The crowd devoured hog roast dinners, sandwiches and sides on Friday sponsored by the Masonic Hope Lodge and Order of Eastern Star; 500 chicken dinners on Saturday; and 200 chicken and 200 rib dinners on Sunday by the Canal Days Committee, as well as cleaning out the 4-Hers of hamburgers and brats.
Dozens of people lined Second Street Saturday morning for the Pet Parade and stuck around for the Delphos Fire and Rescue Waterball Contest that followed. City councilmen battled with city administration and won and moved on to the Canal Days Committee members, coming out 2-0.
Between the Arts and Craft Show at First Financial, the Art Walk on Second Street and the ArtFest show at First Federal Bank, a little culture was added to the event. Many commented on the fine draw of talent in Delphos.
Thousands lined Second Street for the biggest parade on the books for Canal Days. There were 141 entries and the parade lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes. See the winners on page 9A.
Tina Wannemacher won the Big Ticket Drawing and walked away with a cool $4,000. See Tuesday’s Herald for a complete list of winners.
New to Canal Days was the Postal Museum Duck Races behind the post office. First place went to Patricia Morris, duck No. 150, $500; second place was Lori Clarkson, duck No. 9, $150; and third place was Jeff Wittler, duck No. 330, $100. There were 500 ducks in the race. The event was a fundraiser for the new museum with work underway at old Eagles building on Main Street.
Dustin Long won the karaoke contest with Kelsey Christleib and Linda Farmer second and third, respectively. First place was $500; second, $150; and third, $100.
Rose Kaverman won the Wii from the Do-Right Motorcycle Club raffle and Tom Merschman won the Nintendo DS. The club held the raffle to provide the Delphos Senior Citizen Club with a Wii system for exercise classes.
Members of the Delphos Canal Commission reported record attendance at the museum as well. They had to shoo people out Friday night and tell them to return on Saturday. Many said they hadn’t realized what a nice museum Delphos had.
Final totals and tallies for Canal Days will be reported at the close-out meeting in the near future.

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