Varina Celebrates 125 Years!
This past weekend, the City of Varina held their quasi-centennial celebration. It was a weekend filled with food, vendors, sporting competitions, a street dance, and lots of family-friendly fun. A great parade circled the town with over 50 entries. The Varina Hometown Pride Committee helped champion the weekend alongside Varina city officials.
MaryJo Litwiller, Executive Director for Pocahontas County Economic Development, stated the weekend was “nicely planned, with a lot of different vendors and plenty of people in attendance.” Litwiller gave kudos to the planners and volunteers. She also noted there were people from all over participating in the parade, from surrounding county communities such as Palmer, Fonda, Pocahontas, and even further. “It was truly a celebration for their 125th!”
The Varina life-size kaleidoscope was installed prior to the event, so attendees were able to enjoy that new attraction as well. City officials decided on a patriotic red, white, and blue pattern scheme for their scope. It is located in their City Park area, next to the pickleball courts and historical marker. This is the 7th life-size kaleidoscope to be installed in Pocahontas County, with 4 more being installed over the course of the next month. All scopes are anticipated to be installed by the end of July.
Varina’s celebration was just the beginning for big town celebrations this summer. Both Pocahontas and Palmer celebrate milestone years, with Pocahontas having their 155th Celebration (delayed 5 years due to the pandemic) on July 18 – 20 during the Heritage Days & County Fair weekend. Palmer is having their own 125th Celebration from July 31 – August 3. You can find the schedule for the Pocahontas celebration on the Poky Chamber’s website, along with the County Fair schedule as that is taking place on the same weekend. The schedule for Palmer’s celebration is on the image below. Plenty of activities are planned for both of these weekends!
Rolfe and Laurens have their annual summer celebrations the second weekend of July, the 11th – 13th. Gilmore City’s Fun Days are August 15 – 17, and Fonda concludes the summer with their annual Labor Day Celebration on August 30th – September 1st. Be sure to mark all of these big events in your calendar, as they each have plenty of activities the whole family can enjoy!
