MORAN — A little bit of everything is in store for festival-goers who partake this weekend in the 2017 Moran Day celebration.
While the bulk of the activities are geared for Saturday, a number of events kick off starting Thursday and run through Sunday.
Three hopefuls, Alyssa Allison, Bailey Griffith and Shelby Yoho are vying to become Moran Queen. (A community-wide vote concluded today).
Allison, 14, is a freshman at Marmaton Valley High School. She enjoys singing in the school choir and is both a member of the Marmaton Valley dance team and a high school cheerleader. She’s the daughter of Melanie and Wayne Allison.
Griffith, 16, is a Marmaton Valley sophomore. She is a youth group leader at Hope Chapel and plays basketball, volleyball and track. She’s also on the Marmaton Valley dance team and is part of the Kay Club and FFA. Outside of school, Griffith enjoys riding horses and hunting. She’s the daughter of Amanda Umbarger and Brad Griffith.
Yoho, 18, is a senior at MVHS and is active in 4-H, FFA, FCA, track, country country, Kay Club, Student Council and is her senior class treasurer. She also is a dance team member at Marmaton Valley and is on the cheerleading squad. Yoho is the daughter of Joe and Kim Schomaker.
TASTE BUDS will be tested Friday evening at the Moran city park with salsa, pie and chili contests slated for 6, 6:30 and 7 o’clock, respectively. From there, participants are encouraged to head to the high school for Marmaton Valley’s football home-opener.
Activities start bright and early Saturday will last until the wee hours.
A best-dressed pet contest and car show start at 9 a.m., a baby contest is at 10 leading up to the 11 a.m. parade. Dave and Ruth Spangler are grand marshals.
Lunch sponsored by the Moran Baptist Church will immediately follow the parade at the Moran Senior/Community Building, at the same time free trolley rides embark from the city park.
The afternoon is filled with a number of games, from an egg toss and hay cash crawl, frozen T-shirt contest and turtle races.
The ever-popular merchants drawings are at 3, followed by the free bean feed at 4 and family-fun entertainment at 4:30.
The evening features two primary events.
“Wings and Brews” starts at 7 o’clock at Millers On Madison in Iola, with a number of indoor yard games and food and drink specials. Attendance is limited to those 21 and older.
Meanwhile, a free movie night should bring back memories of the 50s — this year’s Moran Day theme — with the John Travolta-Olivia Newton John classic “Grease.”
The movie will be shown on an inflatable movie screen on the tennis courts starting at dusk.
SUNDAY’S events include a 9 a.m. golf tournament at Cedarbrook Golf Course. The cost to enter the three-person scramble is $75 a team.
At 5 p.m. Sunday, participants are encouraged to don their 1950s regalia and attend a Hope Chapel church service at the park. A dinner will follow.
