Spring Creek festival planned for Saturday

This coming Saturday, Sept. 19, will mark the 20th occurrence of Wetmore’s Spring Creek Festival, an annual event originally designed to keep the fall homecoming tradition at Wetmore High School alive after its football program ended more than a quarter of a century ago.

However, the return of football to WHS has prompted the decision to scale the festival back dramatically, said Connie Hutfles, Student Council sponsor at WHS and one of the organizers of this year’s festival.

This year marks the first time since 1987 that Wetmore has had a football program, after the school consolidated with the Sabetha school district and saw its football players teaming up with either Sabetha or Centralia in previous years.

“The kids wanted to have something for homecoming, so we just stepped up and took it over,” Hutfles said. “They were hoping that we would have a Friday night football game at home this year, but that didn’t happen. We’re hoping next year to switch to that kind of format, and we’re working on getting a field lined up for football.”

This year’s homecoming king candidates include Dalton Boeckman, Trey Craig and Ty Davis; queen candidates include Gerae Haverkamp, Liz Hutfles and Ryley Martin. Royalty will be announced at the end of the parade, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with line-up beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the intersection of Third Street and Section Line Road.

Three other activities have been announced with this year’s festival, including:

n Kids’ games and inflatables at Wetmore City Park from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

n A meal at the American Legion Hall in downtown Wetmore from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Free-will donations will be accepted, with proceeds benefiting the WHS Student Council.

n A dodgeball tournament beginning at 7:30 p.m. at WHS, with funds raised to support the Kevin Larrison Memorial Scholarship Fund, which benefits students pursuing an education in sports or sports medicine. Larrison coached baseball with the Wetmore Ball Club for several years, and he also volunteered for more than 15 years as an athletic trainer for the Kansas Shrine Bowl’s East team, it was reported.

For further information on the parade, contact Kathi Larrison at (785) 866-4921; for more information on the dodgeball tournament, call Daniel Larrison at (785) 250-2608.