Festival-goers flood streets in Utica

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September 3, 2012

Festival-goers flood streets in Utica

By LEAH TATE newsroom@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Mon Sep 03, 2012, 12:38 PM EDT

UTICA — Despite the threat of rain, hundreds of people flooded the streets of downtown Utica to share refreshments and reunion with fellow “Uticians” at the 14th annual Utica Homecoming Festival over the weekend.

The festival themed as “Volunteer America,” was sponsored by the town of Utica and the Utica Preservation Association.

President of the Utica Town Council Board, Hank Dorman, said Utica residents have coined the name “Utician” as one currently living or has lived in Utica at some point in their life. Dorman, 65, was born and raised in the small river town of about 900, and said residents share a common closeness and bond.

“We’re kind of a close-knit community,” Dorman said. “We’ve experienced a lot of floods where we have had to pull together to help each other out.”

A parade of tractors and trucks marched down Fourth Street/Utica Pike helping kick-off the festival on Saturday, while about 40 volunteers from the community helped serve fish, hot dogs and “Frank’s baked potatoes” in the community center, and work game and craft booths outside in the Carol Thierman Community Park.

Other than the parade route where children caught candy from passing floats, the children’s area filled with several large inflatables in the park which was the most popular area for young “Uticians.” Residents watched the parade from their lawns and sidewalks, while others sat on the front porch of the Utica Town Hall, a one-story log cabin across the street from the park. The parking lot of the town hall staged the car show where car enthusiasts peeked in and under the hoods of about 20 antique cars.

Mark Snelling, a Charlestown resident, was born and raised in Utica and said while the festival is a nice family-orientated local festival to attend, it’s also like a reunion.

“We come back every year to have a good time and see people we haven’t seen in a while,” Snelling said.

Along with musical acts, speakers like 9th District Rep. Todd Young addressed festival attendees in the gazebo of the park.

“This community is full of strong families and good neighbors,” Young said. “America needs more places like Utica, Indiana.”

Curtis Wells, president of the Utica Preservation Association and 12-year Utica resident, said all the proceeds from the festival go toward town projects, like the new street signs, cemetery renovations and trees that were planted around Utica with last year’s proceeds. He said while the festival is small it takes a lot of hard work from volunteers to make it happen, and the reason why he themed this year’s festival “Volunteer America.”

“We have a lot of great volunteers and community leaders,” Wells said. “We want to encourage more people to get out and volunteer somewhere, anywhere.”

Wells said the town of Utica is unique and knows it will change with the construction of the east end bridge a few miles away in Jeffersonville, which he said will bring more traffic to the small river town.

“Everybody knows everybody here,” he said. “We’re the little town at the end of Utica Pike, it stops here.”