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Versailles Salutes
the American Farmer
Versailles will Salute the American Farmer at this year’s Versailles
Poultry Days June 10th-12th. Celebrating its 65th anniversary the
festival recognizes the men and women that created and maintain our
area’s agricultural strength. Agriculture the largest industry in
Darke County and Ohio providing thousands of jobs in addition to
feeding millions. The area is a leader in poultry, livestock and
grain production as well as food processing and transport. There
wouldn’t be a Poultry Days without this leadership. Staying true
to this tradition Darke county and the surrounding area maintain strong
FFA chapters supporting a new generation of farmers and business and
community leaders.
To showcase Agriculture, the Versailles FFA in cooperation with the
Darke County Farm Bureau will offer educational speakers on Sunday,
June 12th in the gym located on the festival grounds. Speakers
will include: Levi King of King Processing on Poultry Processing and
Preparing Your Birds, Dr Tim Barman, Veterinary Cooper Farms on Ethics
of Food Production-Helping Feed the World, Greg McGlinch-Wright State
University Lake Campus on Cover Crops: Gardener to Farmer; Producing a
Crop and Environment. Michael Delligatta Executive Chef of Michael
Anthony's at the Inn of Versailles with What’s the Buzz about
Bees-Learning about all aspects of bee production and care including
cooking with honey. Jeff Besecker Executive Chef and owner of from The
Old Arcana, with Cooking with Poultry-a cooking demonstration using
poultry dishes with samples. Make plans to check out these
speakers!
The Versailles FFA is excited that the Poultry Days theme and will also
operate a FFA and Agricultural Activity Tent Saturday from
12:00pm-7:00pm and on Sunday from 12:00pm-5:00pm. The FFA will
have a variety of activities in the tent including: hands-on crafts
related to agriculture, milk cow and tractor simulators, a petting zoo,
hatching of eggs, an obstacle course, and free promotional
material. The milk cow and tractor simulator have been generously
donated through Farm Bureau and have been used at the Ohio State
Fair. In conjunction with these activities, they will also have
“Guess that Farm” pictures from local farms, with prizes awarded to the
winners.
The 65th annual Versailles Poultry Days will draw tens of thousands to
a weekend of Friends, Family and Fun and of course, the chicken.
People can’t get enough of that World Famous barbeque chicken and
festival organizers are hoping to break that elusive record of 26,101
dinners. Each dinner comes with ½ a chicken, Mikesells chips,
applesauce, the traditional orange drink and a dinner roll.
Better yet the price will remain $7.50. Chicken Sales begin at
3:30 Friday, 11:30 Saturday and 11:00 Sunday. While the Board is
prepared to sell 26,500 dinners come early to satisfy your chicken
craving because we plan to sell out daily.
The Poultry Days Board has been working for a year organizing one of
the top summer attractions. Offering two of the largest parades
in the area, the Grand Parade will be held at 11:00am on Saturday while
the Antique Car and Tractor parade will be held at 2:30 on
Sunday. Tom and Shila Magoto have been selected as Honorary
Parade Marshals. The Antique Car and Tractor display, which
precedes the Sunday parade, will continue be held at the Versailles
High School to accommodate the increasing number of vehicles which is
expected to exceed 200 this year.
The first festival in the area to shut down a highway to put up a
Social Tent. The Tent will be rockin with nine live acts
beginning at 3:00pm Friday, 1:00pm, Saturday and 1:00pm Sunday.
Seating has been increased to 350 and beverages expanded to include
MillerCoors, Anheuser-Busch, and The Winery at Versailles. In the
past ten years, we have expanded your beverage choices from 1 to over
20! Many of the best bands in the area will be represented with
Saw Creek, Eight Ball and Empty Tank headlining.
Poultry Days offers plenty of activities for the whole family and a
great value for a weekend of family fun. Despite increasing
costs, the festival has found ways to trim expenses and keep prices low
for the 2016 festival. Chicken, ride and social tent prices have
not been increased. All day ride wrist bands have been expanded
to the entire weekend. Ride all day for $20 or only $15 if you
buy presale. Presale tickets are available through June 9th at
multiple locations in Versailles as well as Greenville ACE.
Festival admission is free with parades on both Saturday and
Sunday. FREE Kiddie Tractor Pull on Sunday and plenty of
attractions and events.
The 5k Run/Walk will be organized by Darke County based YOLO which is
donating proceeds from the 5K to a new amphitheater at Heritage
Park. The 5K will take place on Saturday morning and has grown to
the largest in the county with registration available the morning of
the event. The Darke County Photography Show, a Cornhole
Tournament, FREE Kiddie Tractor Pulls, flower show, art show, K of C
Bingo, displays, cake & egg decorating contest, and the famous Miss
Chick and Little Miss Poultry Days pageants. Interested in
Reptiles? Valley Exotics will be at the festival with a Reptile
Trailer, Petting Zoo, and Pony Rides. The Serendipity Mothers
will be hosting nearly 100 vendors.
Big O’s Amusements will be new to the festival with carnival games and
rides continuing at reduced prices. In addition to chicken there
will be your favorite festival foods and the Versailles Music Boosters
will be operating their food tent. Frisbees will also be flying,
so be sure to catch a game as the Ultimate Frisbee tournament, one of
the largest in the U.S., returns to Versailles with over 60
teams. Not to be forgotten, Rage and Rocko the Fire Prevention
Dogs will also be making appearances! The 101st Airborne
reenactors will return while Bear Hollow Wood Carvers of French Lick
Indiana will showcase a new carver.
The festival theme of “A Salute to the American Farmer” was selected by
the 2016 Festival Chairman Brian Henry. Brian grew up and still
lives on a Versailles dairy farm that is owned and operated by his
oldest brother and two nephews. Brian has been on the Poultry
Days Board of Directors for eight years and works at Greenville
Technology Inc. Brian is a graduate of Versailles High School and
The Ohio State University, is a member of the Versailles Eagles, St.
Denis Catholic Church and St. Denis Knights of Columbus.
Poultry Days is a volunteer based non-profit organization in
Versailles, Ohio which conducts one of Ohio’s oldest annual festivals
celebrating the area’s history in the Poultry industry since
1952. The festival is held at 459 S. Center St., Versailles, Ohio
the second full weekend in June. To plan your weekend, see the
full festival schedule and event registration at
www.versaillespoultrydays.com.
Schedule of Events – Download pdf here
Get more photos at Facebook County News Online
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