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HOPE – Bartholomew County’s largest and oldest multi-day festival gets underway Friday.

The 56th annual Hope Heritage Days is, in essence, a harvest festival where a town of about 2,100 residents hosts up to 30,000 guests.

For the community, it’s also the largest annual fundraising event for most non-profits in the Flatrock Hawcreek area. More than 125 vendors and 20 food booths will be featured from Friday night through Sunday afternoon.

“From our standpoint, this is one of the biggest years for people participating,” said Jake Miller, CEO of Heritage of Hope, an umbrella organization that handles the festival and other programs in northeast Bartholomew County.

However, organizers like Miller are concerned about the forecast, which calls for periods of rain or showers from Friday night through the weekend.

This year’s top attraction is Tom Wopat, who first achieved fame as Luke Duke in the television series “The Dukes of Hazzard” from 1979-1985.

While the now 73-year-old Wopat still acts occasionally, he’s spends most of his time as a nationally touring singer performing songs ranging from country to pop-folk and jazz.

This will be Wopat’s third trip to Bartholomew County in four years. He first performed in a benefit for the Wounded Warrior Project at the Elks Club in Columbus in July 2021.

When he came to The Commons in November 2022, the Columbus-based Night Owl Country Band was recruited as Wopat’s backup band. He was sufficiently impressed that Wopat recruited the Night Owl musicians to tour with him during a limited number of engagements.

The band will again back up Wopat during his 8 p.m. performance Saturday on the main stage on Jackson Street.

Friday’s first musical event will be the WYGS Gospel Sing. The LeFevre Quartet, a Christian group from Atlanta, Georgia, will be featured during the 6 p.m. event in the Hauser High School gymnasium.

At the bandstand in the Hope Town Square, Caddo Parish, a Hope-based group specializing in country music from the 1950s through the 1990s, will kick off a weekend of downtown entertainment at 6 p.m.

The Friday night headliner is Dusty Leigh Huston, a Nashville, Tennessee-based singer and songwriter who will perform a 90-minute show at the bandstand. Huston was named female vocalist of the year in the International Singer Songwriters Association Awards in 2022, as well as 2023 Entertainer of the Year by the Who’s Hoo Independent Country Music Awards.

As participants in the Mill Race Marathon begin their long-distance runs Saturday morning, middle and high school athletes will be doing the same during the 33rd annual Heritage Classic Cross Country Meet. As of Wednesday, 24 middle and high schools have signed up for the 9 a.m. competition. Awards will be presented at 11:30 a.m. at the bandstand.

A far more laid-back sport for adults will be the 10 a.m. horseshoe tournament. There is a $5 entry fee to take part in the competition behind the old fire station off Harrison Street, north of Jackson Street.

One of the biggest surprises of the 2021 festival was the appearance of Ernie Brown, Jr. of Lebanon, Kentucky. Nicknamed “The Turtleman,” Brown was featured in the reality TV show “Call of the Wildman” that focused on two men working together as nuisance animal removers.

Since the AandE show had been off the air for seven years, organizers didn’t anticipate the public’s reaction. Fans waited in line for up to three-and-a-half hours to just shake Brown’s hand, which kept him in the town square until about midnight.

At the northeast corner of the town square along Jackson St., Brown will conduct a meet and greet that begins at 10 a.m. Wopat will be the focus of a similar event at 11 a.m. at the same location.

A favorite comedic act since the late 1960s, Dr. Hope Medicine show is a parody of the 19th Century frontier “snake oil salesman” who hawked so-called miracle elixirs. Hope’s favorite con artist will have his wagon on Jackson Street for the noon show.

Silly Safaris, the leading provider of live animal conservation education in Indiana, returns to Hope with a variety of reptiles, mammals, birds and bugs. Their show begins at 1:30 p.m. at the bandstand.

Brown will return to speak to the crowd at the bandstand at 4 p.m. Miller said “Turtleman” will be making an entertaining presentation for his fans.

Live music at the main stage on Jackson Street begins at 5 p.m. with a 45-minute performance by Dirty Laundry, a Columbus-based group that describe themselves as a rock band that also plays country.

Their performance leads into the 6 p.m. concert of the “Night Owl Country Band.” Night Owl was named Band of the Year in 2019 by the International Singer Songwriters Association. The same organization named the group’s “Off The Tracks” release as Album of the Year in 2022.

While the Night Owl musicians take a one-hour break, Hope native Jenna Shoaf will perform at 7 p.m. at the bandstand. A singer, songwriter, guitarist and country music aficionado, Shoaf is making her first performance in her hometown since moving to Nashville, Tennessee a few years ago.

Wopat takes the Main Stage at 8 p.m., with the Night Owl musicians once again serving as his backup band.

Following Wopat’s 90 minute performance, the traditional fireworks display is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. if weather permits.

“Choose Hope” is the theme of Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. parade. Retiring Hope Utility Superintendent David Clouse is being honored as the parade’s grand marshal. His father, the late Merrill Clouse, was one of the original festival founders.

Automotive enthusiasts such as Jeep and Corvette clubs, as well as a number of organizations with floats, will be well-represented during the 2:30 p.m. parade, Miller said. The number of entries has been very consistent year-after-year, he added.

Events associated with the parade include a special presentation at the review stand on Jackson Street at 1:30 p.m. The popular flyover at 2:15 p.m. will feature the Hooligan Flight Team, a Michigan-based formation flying group that demonstrates aerobatic formations. The team leaders say their top goal is to honor veterans.

Two live music performances are scheduled for Sunday. The Banister Family Bluegrass band has been a staple of Hope Heritage Days for several years. The group has three core family members who have performed together for 33 years. Two are a married couple, Roger and Jan Banister, and the third is Denise Kocur, who is Roger’s sister.

The finale will be the Bourbon Britches, who will perform a 90-minute show beginning at 3:30 p.m. at the bandstand. With guitar, bass, fiddle and drums, the all-female band has a repertoire that ranges from traditional country such as Dolly Parton to classic rock.

Friday

3 to 10 p.m. – Vendor booths open

5 p.m. – Opening prayer (bandstand)

6 p.m. – WYGS Gospel Sing (Hauser High School gymnasium)

6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. – Caddo Parish (bandstand)

8:30 to 10 p.m. – Dusty Leigh Huston (bandstand)

Saturday

8 a.m. to 10 p.m. – Vendor booths open

8 to 8:30 a.m. – Baking contest (drop-off at Willow Leaves)

9 to 10:30 a.m. – Heritage Classic Cross Country Meet (Jackson St.)

10 a.m. – Horseshoe Tournament ($5 a person) – behind old fire department.

10 a.m. – Ernie Brown “Turtleman” Meet andamp; Greet” (E. Jackson St.)

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. – Tom Wopat “Meet andamp; Greet”(E. Jackson St.)

11 a.m. – Baking contest awards (bandstand)

11:30 a.m. – Heritage Classic awards presentation (bandstand)

Noon – Dr. Hope Medicine Show (Jackson St.)

1:30 p.m. – Silly Safaris (bandstand)

4 p.m. – Ernie Brown “Turtleman” (E. Jackson St.)

5 to 5:45 p.m. – Dirty Laundry (Main Stage Jackson St.)

6 to 7 p.m. – Night Owl Country Band (Main Stage Jackson St.)

7 to 8 p.m. – Jenna Shoaf (bandstand)

8 to 9:30 p.m. – Tom Wopat with the Night Owl Country Band (Main Stage Jackson St.)

9:30 p.m. – Fireworks (weather permitting)

Sunday

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Vendor booths open

9 a.m. – Worship Service (bandstand)

Noon to 1:30 p.m. – Banister Family Bluegrass (bandstand)

1:30 p.m. – Special presentation (review stands)

2:15 p.m. – Flyover by Hooligan Flight Team

2:30 p.m. – Hope Heritage Days annual parade

3:30 to 5 p.m. – The Bourbon Britches (bandstand)

5 p.m. – Parade trophy presentation and closing prayer (bandstand)