WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — The city’s annual Scarecrow Festival opens Thursday and runs through Sunday, with four days of live music, rides, a road race and a Saturday headline set from country singer Jerrod Niemann, according to a schedule released by the Washington Court House Fire Department.
The festival, held in the streets around the Fayette County Courthouse, kicks off Thursday at 5 p.m. with rides and a beer garden featuring a mechanical bull. The Olde Wrestling promotion is scheduled for two shows on the main stage, at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., with a performance by Iron Tiger WCH at 7:30 p.m. The festival closes at 11 p.m.
Friday’s program opens at noon with an opening ceremony performance from the Miami Trace High School Marching Band, followed by rides, vendors and free youth activities — including a balloon artist and face painter — on the courthouse lawn from 5 to 8 p.m. The main stage lineup includes Sourblood at 5 p.m., The Smokin’ Mirrors at 7 p.m. and the AC/DC tribute act Dirty Deeds at 9:30 p.m. The beer garden opens at 5 p.m., and the festival closes at 11 p.m.
Saturday is the festival’s busiest day. The United Way Scarecrow 5K/10K registers runners from 8 to 9 a.m. at Court and Main streets, with the race itself running from 9 to 11 a.m. The Fayette County Farmers Market sets up at East and Main streets from 8 to 11 a.m. Rides, vendors and amusements run from noon to 11 p.m., and a dinosaur show is scheduled for 2, 4 and 6 p.m. in the Court Street parking lot. The beer garden opens at 4 p.m. Main stage performers include Steven Dowd at 4 p.m., Savannah Rose at 5 p.m. and David Morris at 7:30 p.m., ahead of a 9:30 p.m. headline set from Niemann, a country music artist known for the No. 1 single “Lover, Lover.”
The festival closes Sunday with a community worship service on the main stage from 11 a.m. to noon, billed as “Many Congregations, One Church,” featuring a testimony from Ohio State football players. Rides and vendors reopen at noon alongside a performance from Terrie’s Dance Spectrum Praise Dancers, and a car show runs on South Main Street from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., with awards at 4 p.m. Other Sunday programming includes an Elvis tribute by Lundie Wright Sr. at 12:30 p.m., a dinosaur show at 1 and 3 p.m., and a performance by Dumbfounded at 2:30 p.m. The festival concludes with a closing ceremony performance from the Washington High School Senior Marching Band at 4:30 p.m., with the event wrapping up at 5 p.m.
A scarecrow contest display will be on view on the courthouse lawn throughout the festival, according to the fire department. Several downtown streets are closed for the duration of the event to accommodate the festival footprint.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Washington Court House Fire Department.
