Oshtemo Rotary is celebrating its 20th anniversary with its first Oshtemo Rotary Family Festival at Maple Hill Mall over the course of the Memorial Day weekend.
OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP — For 19 years, Oshtemo Rotary has been holding a fundraising community event in August as a way of giving back to the community, with a pancake breakfast, music, inflatables and more.
This is Oshtemo Rotary’s 20th year, however, and as a way to celebrate that milestone Oshtemo Rotary has also put together a carnival for Memorial Day weekend to bookend the summer.
“This weekend is kind of kicking it up a notch, you could say, ” said Laurence Hawthorne, the president-elect of Oshtemo Rotary.
That definitely seems to be the case, with a large variety of rides for kids and adults alike, carnival games and concessions on the lineup for the Oshtemo Rotary Family Festival, which opens Thursday and continues through Monday.
The club has partnered with the Skerbeck Entertainment Group to put together the event. The company has had more than 160 years of experience holding events like this all over Michigan and Indiana, such as the Allegan County Fair and Corn School Festival in Shipshewana.
“This all came together because several people were looking for it to happen, ” Hawthorne said. “Skerbeck has been wanting to do something in West Michigan and the Maple Hill people wanted to use the parking lot, so everyone came together and thought this could be a great way to kick off the season. We want this to grow and be part of what Oshtemo gives to the community, especially sponsored by Oshtemo Rotary.”
Oshtemo Rotary is a service organization that supports a range of causes, both locally and internationally.
The festival will be in the parking lot of Maple Hill Mall, at the northwest corner of the intersection of West Main Street and Drake Road.
The Goodrich Kalamazoo 10 movie theater is nearby and Hawthorne said he hopes to catch people going to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which opens this weekend, he said.
The carnival will include classics like the a Ferris wheel and bumper cars. There will be smaller rides for kids, like the carousel or a wilderness adventure train ride, alongside the more exciting rides for teens and adults.
This year’s festival will be a test, Hawthorne said. If it does well, Oshtemo Rotary hopes to see it happen again.
Oshtemo Rotary Family Festival will be held on May 25-29, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, noon to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and noon to 8 p.m. on Monday.
Ride tickets are available online through Oshtemo Rotary’s website as well as Skerbeck’s website. Daily unlimited ride armbands can be bought online at a discounted price until noon this Thursday.
