The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/355055
© 2013 Trane. All rights reserved. RELIABILITY AND SERVICE THAT WILL STOP AT NOTHING. RELIABLE, ENERGY-EFFICIENT, CLEAN AIR FOR THE HOME. trane.com 789-3065 Mac's Heating & Air Conditioning 104 E Center St. Winslow macshtgac@hotmail.com Mac's Heating & air conditioning 812-789-3065 104 e center st, Winslow macshtgac@hotmail.com call today! Zoar Mosquito Fest 42nd Annual August 1-2 on Old State Road 64 between Holland (Hwy 161) and Stendal Great Food! Fried & BBQ Chicken Dinners Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Fish Sandwiches, Homemade Ice Cream Elephant Toes Friday 5 p.m. Food Stands Open 6 p.m. Opening Ceremony 7 p.m. Country Music | Iron Mountan 6:30 a.m. Breakfast in the Grove Noon Cornhole Tourney 1:00 p.m. Stationary Parade (812-536-2920 for info) 2:00 p.m. Kids Games 3:00 p.m. Chicken Dinner Serving Begins 4:00 p.m. Pedal Tractor Pull 5:00 p.m. Hula Hoop Contest 6:30 p.m. Gospel Music | Judith Montgomery & family | The Bridges saturday • Flea Market (812-536-5133) • Flower Show • Produce Show (812-536-2920) • Quilt Show • artS & craFtS DEMONSTRATIONS Southern Indiana WiFFleball ClassiC Begins Friday, continueS all day Saturday No rAffles or Alcohol oN grouNds Some of them have worked extremely well, like the Stationary Parade and Unmarching Band. The Mosquito Fest com- mittee wanted to have a pa- rade but they didn't have room to have one. So they decided to just have the pa- rade line-up in position and they have the spectators walk around the parade units instead of the parade marching by them. The Unmarching Band is a seat band. Sometimes it was The German Band seat- ed in chairs playing 'oom- pah' music. The parade garnered them national attention, af- ter an area newspaper pho- tographed it and the Associ- ated Press picked it up. Midwest Living and Life magazines even called and did a small feature on the festival. They came close to making it on Good Morn- ing, America, but the nation- al morning news show de- manded they move the fes- tival's start to Friday morn- ing. "We tried to do it, but we just couldn't," said Ralph. They said the nation- al publicity brought letters from all over the country, "addressed to Zoar, Ind.," chuckled Ralph. Another big hit at the fes- tival is the Southern Indiana Wiffleball Championship. Yes, the yellow plastic bat and hollow plastic ball with lots of holes in it. Each year, 32 teams sign up and battle with 'blood and guts' deter- mination for the champion- ship in both kids' and adult divisions. "In Zoar Munici- pal Field," said Hemmer. "We often have to turn teams away," said Hemmer. Some events have not gone that well, or at least problems developed. They had turtle races. They would put turtles in the middle of a rope circled around, and the first tur- tle to cross the rope won. It was popular and Ralph even sold sponsorships similar to NASCAR for the turtles. But when they became an en- dangered species, they had to stop the races. "We tried frog races, but some of the older boys pulled the frogs' legs off," said Delores. The watermelon eating contest was popular, but one of the contestants choked on a seed and they discontin- ued the event. The hot pepper eating contest met a similar fate. "It (nearly) killed the guy who won it," said Delores. "He didn't look too well," said Hemmer of the win- ning contestant. So to pre- vent death by intestinal com- bustion, they discontinued it as well. Another hit that failed was the iron skillet toss for wom- en. It was a big hit, but they kept breaking the skillets. "I didn't think you could break an iron skillet," said Deloris. But at the Mosquito Fest, they proved it was possible, as skillets broke in two piec- es or the handle broke off. Another even bit the dust. Delores went back through her notes and cit- ed different events and the years they began. "1975 was the first year we had home- made ice cream." A big hit on the first week- end in August, ice cream re- mains one of the perennial favorites. "Each year they try to come up with a new flavor," said Delores. Some of the flavors have included orange-pineapple, Oreo®, chocolate marshmallow and butter pecan. "They are pretty ingenious," said Delores. "In 1977, we had an in- teresting time." She said a black snake came into the shelterhouse and got into one of musician's guitar cas- es. She said some of the men got it and took it away into the field, but it kept coming back. "It was a big black snake," said Ralph. In 1982, they started the produce show. In 1989, they had a sing- ing beagle. Delores said they always had their Sun- day morning church ser- vice outside. They started the service with a song and a beagle walked up, tipped his head back and joined in the singing at the top of his voice. He continued through all the songs. "I told Fred it sure improved the service," said Ralph of his brother, who led the singing. In 1990, they had clog- gers. In 1992, they broke with tradition. Because of their 20th anniversary, they had a moving parade. In 1995, Swampy the San- ta Carver came for the first time. He is probably the lon- gest-running demonstration of crafts at the festival. Ralph said one of the first demonstrations was the Kahle brothers doing a rock-cutting demonstration. They cut large stones to be used for house foundations. Others have included a Civil War interpretation, weaving and so on. The sack races, three- legged races, balloon toss and egg toss have been part of the fun every first Satur- day of August since 1973. The other is a Gospel Sing on Saturday. As the festival expand- ed to two nights beginning on Friday with an opening ceremony and country mu- sic performance, so did the crowds. The Hemmers esti- mated the crowds at more than 2,000. The BBQ chick- en dinners remain a favor- ite. "I think our food is one of our biggest draws," said Delores. Each year, Ralph has been at the center of it with his trusted microphone, an- nouncing the various events, whether it is the turtle races, sack races, water balloons or Hemmer's personal favorite, the egg toss. Anyone and ev- eryone was subject to some good-hearted ribbing from him. "He is always eager to see someone get egg all over them," said Delores. "I always tell them to catch it like this," said Ralph, holding his hands up above his face. The 2014 version will be the first Ralph won't be at the microphone all the time. "I probably won't be doing it this year. Last year, I wore out and turned it over to Beth Goeppner," said Hem- mer. But he can't let go com- pletely. "I will probably still do the opening ceremony and help with the station- ary parade," said Ralph. One of the parade units this year will be his 60 -year- old Crosley car. Ralph's and Delores' son, John, has been restoring it. "I tell people I have had that longer than I had my first wife," said Hemmer laughing. "We used to take it courting." This weekend, Lord will- ing, Delores and Ralph will be at the Mosquito Fest just as they were in 1973, and each and every year since. H Hemmers involved with Mosquito Fest since '73 on Friday and 3 p.m. on Sat- urday. Sandwiches and oth- er food will be available any- time. Zoar is located on Old State Road 64 between Hol- land and Stendal. There is no admission charge, plenty of parking and lots of shade trees. Bring your own lawn chair if you wish. Everyone is invited to come and enjoy two days of friendly fellow- ship, family fun, good food and clean entertainment. No raffles or alcoholic beverages will be allowed on the grounds. Continued from page 1 H Mosquito Fest A Petersburg man was arrested on battery charg- es after his ex-wife ran on foot to the Sheriff's Depart- ment at about 1 a.m. Thurs- day to report her husband choked her and threatened to kill her. Edward F. Boudakian, 45, of 208 N. Fourth St., Peters- burg, was arrested on pre- liminary charges of domes- tic battery, strangulation, criminal confinement and public intoxication. In his report, Peters- burg Patrolman Jared Sim- mons said Brandy Bouda- kian ran from her apart- ment on 4th St. to the Sher- iff's Department where she told them her husband had beaten her. Officer Simmons said he and Deputies Chad Tharp, Buck Seger and Jeff Boger went to her apartment and on the way they found her husband Edward walk- ing away from the residence. Simmons said when po- lice confronted Boudaki- an about his wife's claims, he said they had been in an argument, but it was not a physical altercation. Deputy Tharp returned to the Sheriff's Department to talk with Mrs. Boudaki- an and found she had blood coming from her nose and scratch marks on her face. Officer Simmons said po- lice also noticed Edward had been drinking and was walking unsteady. Mrs. Boudakian told po- lice Edward had held her down and was choking her, claiming he was going to kill her and he was going to make the cops kill him. She said while he was chok- ing her, she went in and out of consciousness, but was eventually able to break free from him and run to the Sheriff's Department. By Andy Heuring A traffic stop early Satur- day morning led to drunk- en driving and marijuana arrests. Zachary J. Seger, 18, of 1313 Newton St., Jasper, and his passenger Kody Blake- man, 23, of Celestine, were arrested in Otwell by Pike County Deputy Sheriff Chad Tharp. Deputy Tharp said he was on routine patrol near the Highway 257 and 56 junction when he saw a Ford Ranger truck, driving west on High- way 56, stop about 75 feet from the intersection. The truck went about another 10 feet, stopped again, then turned on its right turn sig- nal, switched to its left turn signal, then went about an- other 10 feet and switched back to the right turn sig- nal. It then went forward and turned right on 257 without stopping at the intersection. Deputy Tharp said he fol- lowed the vehicle north, saw it go left of center and then stopped the vehicle. When he talked with the driv- er, Seger, he could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. Seger failed field sobri- ety tests and was taken to the Pike County Jail, where he was arrested on prelim- inary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and minor consuming. Tharp said Seger's pas- senger, Blakeman, had been drinking, but he was more than 21 years old. However, during an inventory of the vehicle, a "one hitter pipe" was found in the passen- ger seat. Tharp said it had black residue that field test- ed positive for marijuana. In his report, Tharp stated Blakeman told officers the pipe was his and that he had smoked all the marijuana. Blakeman was preliminar- ily charged with possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia and contrib- uting to the delinquency of a minor. Ralph and Delores Hemmer reminisce about more than 40 years of being involved with the Zoar Mos- quito Fest. Continued from page 1 Traffic stop leads to DUI, marijuana arrests Boudakian arrested after domestic quarrel MORE OPTIONS NOw avaIlable IN The Press-Dispatch ClassifieDs A-2 Wednesday, July 30, 2014 The Press-Dispatch