STOUGHTON
The Stoughton Daze weekend was packed with activities for all ages beginning on Friday, July 7 with a nine-hole Texas scramble golf tournament.
Saturday morning the day began with breakfast at the fire hall running from 7 a.m. until 9 a.m., serving 182 people.
The Stoughton Tecumseh Fire and Rescue department, along with the First Responders, took care of feeding the hungry crowd.
Slowly the line up of floats appeared up Government Road consisting of trucks, tractors, quads, and teams of horses pulling floats for the Stoughton Lions Club parade.
With judging completed and awards handed out, the Truco Trick Riders took to leading the parade.
Most of the towns businesses had a float and several from the area joined in on this annual event.
Each year the parade circles around the Golden Years Suites and goes past the New Hope Pioneer Lodge and on to Main Street.
The massive parade filled Main Street while hundreds of people watched on and kids eagerly waited for the candy.
With this incredible parade in the books for 2023, the Chamber of Commerce held events at the green space to break up the time until the fairground events would begin.
Balloon twisting, snow cones, rock painting and live music could be found there, along with a giant Jenga and Dominoes game. People also had the chance to win some prizes playing the Plinko game.
Farther down the street was the Anything on Wheels Show and
Shine located in front of Vivid Ink, and at the Drop In Centre the Stoughton Agricultural Society held their summer fair.
Flowers, plants, quilts, photos and paintings were brought in by exhibitors and could be viewed until 4 p.m.
At the fairgrounds, kids lined up to play on the large bouncy castles, while the food line steadily grew, causing the crew to retrieve more burgers for the hungry crowd.
The beer gardens would open for the day and remain open until 8 p.m., with the band Kelten Chyz taking to the stage to keep the crowd entertained. Kelten Chyz also played at the Crossroads Inn over the weekend.
Nearby, the sand pits had six teams enter the beach volleyball tournament, while others took advantage of the free swimming, sponsored by the Lions club, at the newly renovated pool.
The dunk tank was a popular place as the town’s mayor Clarence Hoffort and a few council members took their chance at not getting dunked into the cold tank of water. This would not be the case, as they were dunked several times.
At 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. the Truco Trick riders amazed the crowd with their acrobatic stunts on horseback.
Things continued into Sunday with a slime walk-run-bike fundraiser.
Thirty-nine people took part in the 5 km race with the youngest at two and a half years old and the oldest in their 60’s.
A five-alarm chili cook off was scheduled and to be judged by the public, also Butters Homemade Food Truck would be available for those who do not like the heat.
A summer sizzler barrel race was held by the New Hope Horse Club, which seen a great crowd of riders.
Miranda Dunn broke the arena record on her horse Royal Bugs Jac with a time of 15.226 seconds when she did the turn and burn around the barrels.
As the weekend ended, people said they had a wonderful time, and the parade was fabulous.
