Chesterfest a Success

By Art WhittonThis past Saturday night, the village of Chester had the biggest population of any town in Thayer County as over 1500 people attended the concert featuring BlackHawk. The show capped off a fun weekend and months of planning. Chesterfest got off to a quiet start Friday night with the sand volleyball tournament, bingo and an Extreme Foam Party for the kids. The weather was great and held out for the whole weekend. Saturday began at 8am with the 3rd Annual 5k run. Over two dozen runners and walkers set off on the course throughout Chester. Finishing first overall was Christian Krupicka of Hebron with a time of 19:51. Top female finisher was Penny Befort of Deshler with a time of 23:19.As the last runners finished, the vendor fair was getting set and soon the Golf Cart Rally was in full swing. Three bounce houses were set for the kids all day. Over 30 vendors set up throughout the day and Cindy Chinn had her new Phoenix scrap metal sculpture on display. During the morning, cars, trucks and bikes drove in and entered the car show. The volleyball tournament resumed and the noon meal was soon being served!As the afternoon progressed more people arrived and the concert gates were opened. There was an evening meal catered by the Acreage Steakhouse, and all meals were sold out! To open the night of music, local favorites Bourbon Street took the stage and got the party going. During the break, the Chester Community Club announced the winners of their "Big Raffle", of which they had been selling tickets since last summer. The winners were: Carla Frye: Stihl trimmer and leaf blower, Thad Mumm: Milwaukee tools, Brenda Striggow: Blackstone Grille, Karla Cherney: Kitchenaid Mixer, Mike Tipton: Liberty Safe. Finally the moment arrived that everyone was waiting for as BlackHawk took the stage. Henry Paul led the group through a great set of their many hits and kept the crowd on their feet. It was a stunning end to a great “Celebration of the Good Life.” After BlackHawk finished, the sky lit up with a fantastic display of fireworks, presented by Kasl's Krazy Krackers and the Chester Volunteer Fire Department. As the display ended, Tommy Watt took to the stage in the beer garden and ran through a great selection of songs until 2am.The Chester Community Club could not have made this weekend happen without countless hours of volunteer work, a great number of local sponsors and course the many people who bought tickets and supported the other activities. They are up for challenge if they want to top this year's Chesterfest.

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