Backyard Adventures
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A chronological Calendar of Events will guide you through Southern Indiana's most exciting events. Some events have been selected as features, follow the guide below to skip ahead to your favorite festivities. Overview .........................................................................4-6 Red Skelton Festival ..........................................................9 Haubstadt Sommerfest .................................................. 11 Otwell Indpendence Celebration ................................13 Gibson County Fair .........................................................14 Pike County Fair ..............................................................14 Owensville Watermelon Festival ................................. 17 Oakland City Sweet Corn Festival .............................. 17 Zoar Mosquito Festival .................................................. 17 Petersburg Jaycee Catfish Festival ...............................19 travel GuIdE 126th Annual Labor Day Celebration ........................20 Princeton Golden Heritage Days ................................21 Just for Kicks— Sporting & Recreation Destinations ...........................22 Rutted, Rugged, & Rocky: Interlake ............................24 Local Restaurants ............................................................26 Tee Time: Area Golf Courses ......................................27 Huntingburg Herbstfest .................................................28 Fort Branch Halloween ..................................................29 Online Travel Resources ................................................30 Where else can you enjoy the great outdoors with plenty of camping, hunt- ing and fishing opportunities, or take part in the annual Petersburg Jay- cee Catfish Festival, enjoy a real small town festival like the Winslow Fall Festivial or the annual Pike County 4-H Fair? Pike County is proud to invite visi- tors to its one-of-a-kind fairs and festivals that bring everyone together to eat, drink, dance, run three-legged races, ogle tractors, kiss babies, eat some food and enjoy a night at the fireworks. This vibrant place is located in beauti- ful Southern Indiana and even holds the distinction of becoming the first community to become a county after Indiana became a state. It's named after Zebulon Pike, who is most known for the Pike Expedition of 1806—1807 that explored the southwest portion of the Louisiana Purchase. Pike County even made national news this year when officials with the U.S. Census Bureau announced the median center of U.S. population, as determined by the 2010 census, is a Southern Indiana cornfield right here in Pike County. So yes, it's safe to say that Pike County is the center of it all—from camping to festivals and small towns to Hoosier hospitality. When visiting Pike County, take a stroll down Main Street in the county seat of Petersburg and visit a variety of local shops and antique stores to find a souvenir of your travels. There's also the Patoka River national Wildlife Refuge and Management area, which is a col- lection of wildlife refuges and habitats situated along the Patoka River in Pike and Gibson counties in Southwestern Indiana. The Refuge includes wetlands and floodplain forest along the Patoka River corridor and has an authorized boundary of 6,970 acres. The area provides some of the most significant remnant bottomland hardwood wet- lands in all of Indiana. In all, there are more than 380 species of wildlife on the Refuge, including the federally-list- ed endangered Indiana bat, and more than 50 species listed as conservation priorities in the Indiana Comprehen- sive Wildlife Strategy, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Another stop should be the Sugar Ridge State Fish & Wildlife area, located near Winslow. Ac- cording to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), this area is unique in that much of the land has been strip-mined. Sugar Ridge is made up of six separate areas, totaling approximately 8,100 acres. The strip- mined land now features about 100 pits and lakes, along with rows of overbur- den from the mining operation. The land that has not been mined is mostly rough and rolling. You can hunt, picnic, do some bird watching, go for a hike or some horse- back riding at Pike State Forest in central Pike County. The for- est varies from hilly uplands to the low bot- tom- lands of the Patoka River. Because of the diversity of sites, a wide variety of plant and animal life make their homes at Pike, the DNR reports. Pike State Forest is operated by the Ferdinand State Forest in nearby Dubois County. The Pike State Forest consists of 2,939 acres in southwestern Indiana. For a chance to sit among the azaleas, visit the azalea Path arbore- tum & Botanical Gardens, which straddles the Pike-Gibson County line This privately owned facility offers more than 50 acres and more than 2,000 varieties of azaleas, plus a large variety of unusual plants and native Indiana trees in a beautifully landscaped setting with two spring fed lakes, a wa- terfall, a koi pond and unique chainsaw sculptures. For added comfort, there are benches perched along the beauti- fully landscaped trails winding through- out the grounds. It's a peaceful way to get away from it all. Check out www. azaleapatharboretum.org for directions. Interlake is a 3,550 acre off roading area that offers the most diverse off road terrain in the midwest. It is one of two public areas in Indiana's Depart- ment of Natural Mr. and Mrs. Frank Heuring, Publishers Andy G. Heuring, Senior Editor Andrea Preston, South Gibson Star-Times Editor John B. Heuring, Adv. Manager Eric Gogel, Production Manager Cindy Petty, Adv. Sales Nancy Copley, Adv. Sales Frank Copley, Adv. Sales • • • • • • 820 Poplar Street, P.O. Box 68 Petersburg, Indiana 47567 www.pressdispatch.net • • • • • • Telephone 354-8500 Written By: Andrea Preston and Andy Heuring Designed & Illustrated By: Melissa Weisman Photos by: Andrea Preston, Cindy Petty, Mike Johansen and Eric Gogel PIKE CountY n OVERVIEW Find out for yourself why we're known for our "Hometown Friendliness" Resources. It is located along County Road 1200 South in Pike County and stretches to Highway 68 in Warrick County, just west of Indiana 61. It has off roading trails for Jeeps, motorcycles, bicycles, ATVs and even extreme off- roading terrain parks. Prides Creek Golf Course is located in the beautiful Prides Creek Park and is built around Prides Creek Lake. Five of its nine holes are with water in play. Last year they installed Bermuda grass fairways so you will always have perfect lie in the fairway. The park features swimming, prima- tive and permenant camping sites, three shelterhouses, tennis courts, playgrounds and fishing. They have a fall festival each year featuring a golf cart parade, trick or treating, as well as, crafts and games for children. Hornady Park is a beautiful tree- filled area with rolling hills, a lake and four shelterhouses. Complete with a nature trail and the Peter Brenton log cabin. A special summer feature is the Kiefer Splash Park. During the holiday season, it is the home of Christmas in the Park. Other points of interest in Pike Coun- ty are: the Pike County Court- house which features a recently restored stained glass dome over the rotunda, the Gil Hodges Mural in downtown Petersburg, the Wabash & Erie Canal Markers and the Buffalo trace Markers. If you are looking to trace your roots, visit the Pike County Public Library's Genealogy depart- ment at the main library branch in Petersburg, 1104 Main Street. It's regarded as one of the top 10 gene- alogy departments in the state. For more information, call the library at 812-354-6257. No matter what your interests are, there are endless opportunities to discover them in Pike County. 4 n PIKE PUBLISHING n backyard advEntuRES: Summer and Fall 2012