Parade, Festival, Pageant

Grace Hammer, Cami Dittberner, Alyvia Bunkowski, Emersyn Spires and Nella Porter will reign over this year’s Henning Festival. 

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The streets of Henning will be filled this weekend for the 84th annual Henning Festival.

The weekend will get underway on Thursday night with the historic Henning walking tour. The tour will be led by Chris Schuelke of the Otter Tail County Historical Society. The cost of the walking tour will be $8 apiece. People Movers will be available for those having difficulty walking and those who wish to attend can gather in front of the Landmark Center at 7 p.m.

On Friday the Henning Festival will ramp up with a bevy of activities. The craft and flea market will be held from 12-7 p.m. at the festival grounds, while the food stand will be open from 5-10 p.m. 

The kiddie parade will begin at 6 p.m. near the city park on Marshall Ave. and Douglas Ave., while the big parade will begin near the former nursing home on Marshall Ave. 

Following the parade, new Henning Festival and Little Miss Henning royalty will be crowned beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Henning Festival Grounds. Henning Festival Queen candidates include: Madison Jensen, Aaliyah Olson, Ally Hart, Lily Fraki, Ava Eckhoff and Destine Sweno. Little Miss Henning candidates include: Koli Torgerson, Shelby Loock, Pipe Greenwaldt, Willow Beattie, Johanna Saari. Makayla Menze, Morgan Cornelius, Naomi Kodadek, Hannah Weller and Korie Koenen. 

On Saturday the festival will begin at 8 a.m. with the Henning Festival 5k. The softball tournament and Henning Lions breakfast will also get underway at 8 a.m. 

The craft and flea market will open again at 9 a.m. and the water wars will get underway at 11 a.m. The water wars will feature a dress up theme of decades. Teams of two or three people can pick their favorite decade and come dressed up in that theme to participate. There will be prizes for the top three teams, plus the team judged as the best dressed. 

Beginning at 12 p.m. inflatable rides will get underway at the festival grounds, before the kids and adult bean bag tournaments will be held at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively.

Saturday will come to a smashing end with the demo derby starting at 6 p.m., live music will get underway at 9:30 p.m. and the annual fireworks show will begin at 10 p.m.

The 84th annual Henning Festival will come to an end on Sunday with the Henning Lions pancake breakfast from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the annual Tri-County Cruisers car show will be held at Amundson Park from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.