Sellersburg Celebrates! kicks off today

Clark County

Discussion

August 22, 2008

Sellersburg Celebrates! kicks off today

By MELISSA MOODY The News and Tribune Fri Aug 22, 2008, 10:31 AM EDT

Twenty years ago Sellersburg was in desperate need of an image makeover. Quarreling in the town council was leaving a bad taste in the mouth of potential businesses and residents.

“Back in the 1980s there was a lot of infighting — it seemed like we were on the front page of the paper everyday for something negative,” said resident Linda Miller. “So the Economic Development Committee decided they wanted to do something to project a positive image of Sellersburg.”

And that turned into Sellersburg Celebrates!. Originally developed as a centennial celebration honoring the 100th anniversary of the town’s founding, the festival turned into an annual event after it was more successful than anyone imagined it would be.

Miller has been involved with the Sellersburg Celebrates! committee since the centennial, and she doesn’t plan on quitting anytime soon. She chaired the first Sellersburg Celebrates! in 1991, and she is still as invested and involved in the 19th celebration as she was with the first.

“It’s sort of like your child — you have a personal stake in it,” Miller said. “But also as a member of the community, I have a personal stake in it.

“It truly is a community event.”

And the event is growing right along with the community. At Miller’s favorite event of the celebration — the community luncheon — more than 500 people will likely be in attendance. The new Silver Creek High School football coach Mike Flores will be the event speaker.

“We try to choose someone who has a commitment to the community, who cares and gives back,” Miller said. “They talk about how we can all do that.”

To choose Flores is only appropriate — this is the first year the high school has had a football team in more than 60 years, and he has stepped up to bring one back to the kids at the high school and to the community.

The celebration will feature live entertainment, with Sellersburg Idol and Dream Dream Dream on Thursday, The Rumors and Rigbys on Friday, and the Silver Creek High School band and Daryle Singletary on Saturday.

Sellersburg Idol, one of the many recent incarnations of the popular television show American Idol, will showcase nine local performers, with one grabbing the title of Sellersburg Idol. The preliminary contest was held at the beginning of the month, and 25 contestants were whittled down to nine.

There will also be a quilt show held from Friday through Sunday at the American Legion Post 204 in Sellersburg. Karole Darnell is an avid quilter, and has even gotten her daughters Carolyn and Wynona to join in.

“Ten years ago I went into a quilt store in Pekin, and I got hooked right away,” she said. Darnell participates in quilting shows across the county, and is a member of the Southern Indiana Quilters Guild.

The show is still open to residents interested in showing quilts. Registration at the American Legion ends at 1 p.m. today. The show will feature vendors — selling everything from patterns and fabric to sewing supplies — and a viewer’s choice quilt will be chosen Sunday. The winner will receive a prize including quilting supplies.

The celebration will also feature the obligatory games for kids, food vendors and carnival rides. But the best part about the festival, Miller said, isn’t the music, or the food, or the rides, it’s the opportunity to be with other members of the community, and meet some new ones.

If you go

The Sellersburg Celebrates! festival opens today at 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. It runs Friday, from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m., with the community luncheon at noon at Rock Creek Christian Academy, 11515 Ind. 31, and the quilt show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the American Legion Post 204, 412 N. New Albany St. The parade starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the festival runs until 11 p.m., with the quilt show running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The quilt show will also be held on Sunday, from noon to 4 p.m. Art in Speed Park is held Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.