This is a special weekend in the Golden Triangle of Southwestern Auglaize County! Of course, we're celebrating the 235th birthday of our beloved country, and we're doing that in style in New Knoxville all weekend long. However, we're also going to be celebrating the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Village of New Knoxville with a special parade at 4pm on Saturday afternoon. New Knoxville has such an interesting, unique history worth celebrating. The community was settled by a small group of families from a town in Germany, Ladbergen. Why is that a big deal you ask? Well, the fact of the matter is, that the community continued to be settled by families from Ladbergen, settled almost entirely by families from Ladbergen, Germany. This is a perfect example of what is referred to as "chain migration." A group from one community settled here in the U.S. and began sending word home about the wonders and the bounty of this area and more families from the same community followed and developed the town here.
New Knoxville, OH and Ladbergen, Germany share a special history together, and still keep in touch with one another today. A visit to the New Knoxville Heritage Center provides an excellent and interesting trip through the history of New Knoxville and western Ohio. The New Knoxville Historical Society and the community of New Knoxville have done a brilliant job of saving and cataloguing artifacts and and records to display for the public. Contact Myron Fledderjohann for a tour of the Heritage Center at (419) 753-2721, I know he'd love to show you around and tell you tales of early New Knoxville.
Consider visiting us this weekend in New Knoxville to celebrate our nation's birthday! The fun begins at 8:30 am on Saturday with the Firecracker 5K and runs through midnight on Sunday evening following the incredible fireworks display. The New Knoxville Cub Scouts officially open the festivities with the Flag Ceremony at 11:30 am Satuday and The Way International Choir provides a fitting tribute with a concert at noon on Saturday. The Woody Piehl Wooden Bat Softball Tournament runs all weekend, there will be lots of food, games, prizes, rides and activities all weekend long. Be sure to stop by and say hello at the Chamber of Commerce Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich stand at the north end of the park. Our sandwich stand is a fundraiser for the Village of New Knoxville Community Park Board and the Chamber of Commerce. We're catered by Todd Smith and the gang at Easy's Restaurant/Campgrounds and man, can they put together some amazing pulled pork BBQ!!
We'll have live music both evenings, on Saturday The Earthquakers hit the gazebo, and on Sunday Exploit takes over. Sunday morning features a community church service at 10:15 in the park, a pie baking/judging contest at noon in the shelter house and little league baseball all afternoon. And of course, at 10pm, we'll all gather at the ballfields for the fireworks! There's something for everyone this weekend in New Knoxville, so come on out and join us in celebration! Visit www.auglaize.org for a full schedule of events.
