2023 Sunfield Farmers Picnic Brought Fun for All Ages

The Sunfield Farmers Picnic kicked off on Friday, August 18, with a half chicken dinner cooked by High’s Rotary Grill and sponsored by the Sunfield United Brethren Church, which sold out. The 2023 Prince is Kyler Pruden, son of Chad & Jade Pruden, and Princess is Leta Hoffman, daughter of Cole & Kelsey Hoffman. Their Royal Court includes Kooper Ketchum, Malakai Vasquez, Amelia Mull, Calla Shepard, Braylee Pruden, River Bowen, Ava Stambaugh and Sage Mitchell. Each child was all smiles to receive a big bag of surprises and a T-shirt commemorating the event. Children of all ages had fun with Cook’s Family Farm Peddle Pull where the winners were Addilynn Brummette (1st), Jayce Nurenberg (2nd) and Dixie Gibbs (3rd) in the 3 – 4 year old group; Lucas Coffman (1st), Kinsley Shaw (2nd) and Princess Leta Hoffman (3rd) in the 5 – 6 year old group; Luki Poll (1st), Braelyn Gibbs (2nd) and Wesley Brummette (3rd) in the 7 – 8 year old group; Aaron Poll (1st), Reagan Grables (2nd) and Brian Schultz (3rd) in the 9 – 10 year old group. Each participant received a participation ribbon and an individual bottle of Mooville milk donated by Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Sunfield Community Foundation Scholarships were presented to Zachary Underwood, Son of Scott Underwood and Jamie Trommater, receiving a $4,000 scholarship. He will be attending MSU where he will be studying chemistry. Emily Root, Daughter of Jodi Root and the late Mark Root, receiving a $5,000 scholarship. She will be attending Kellogg Community College and Averie Steward, Daughter of Matt & Marissa Steward, receiving a $2,500 scholarship. She will be attending Davenport where she will be studying marketing. It was announced that Averie was this year’s recipient of the Richard Lenon Community Service Award given to the graduating Senior that has demonstrated the greatest degree of community service which is the only criteria for the award. Along with the engraved plaque, Averie received a check for $500. This marked the 37th year that the SPY’s and the Community Foundation has made scholarship awards. Over that time there have been 201 student recipients. The grand marshal reception honoring Tim Rumfield concluded the evening’s honors with stories, a cake and punch.

On Saturday, the Grand Parade, themed “Farmers Feed the World” and honoring Grand Marshal Tim Rumfield, included the Eaton County Sheriff Department followed by the Mid-Michigan Mounted Color Guard America’s Historic Flags, 2023 Prince Kyler Prudent & Princess Leta Hoffman and their royal court, Eliza Trowbridge & Morgan Myers, the 2023 Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival Queen and Princess, the Lakewood High School Marching Viking Band, dozens of antique tractors, trucks and cars as well as floats representing the Sunfield Historical Society, the Sunfield District Library’s Summer Reading Program, Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War and Klotz Family Farms. Fire trucks from Sunfield, Roxand Twp., Lake Odessa Fire Dept. and its mini truck, Woodland Twp. and Campbell Twp. participated. Children lining the Village streets scooped up lots of candy.

The Fourth Classic Car, Truck, Tractor & Bike Show organized by Paul Campbell took place on Main Street with 64 vehicles. The Best Tractor, 1st and 2nd place went to Cole Hoffman of Sunfield for his 1936 John Deere D and 1947 John Deere A, respectively. Best Truck, 1st place, a 1948 Ford Panel, belongs to Roger Coultier of Bath and 2nd place, a 1953 Dodge Pick Up, belongs to Jeff Stults of Lake Odessa. Best Car, 1st place, a 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator, belongs to Kendall Wilcox of Sunfield, 2nd place, a 1967 Pontiac G T O, belongs to Bert & Becky Dickinson, of Ionia. Most Original, 1st place Truck, a 1961 Chevy Apache belongs to Paul Campbell of Charlotte, 2nd place, a 1970 I H Scout 800 A, belongs to Richard Harvey of Charlotte. Best Bike, 1st place, a 2005 Iron Horse Legend, belongs to Nolan DeVee of Lansing, 2nd place, a 2002 Ural Tourist, belongs to Joey Domina of Dewitt. Diamond in the Rough 1st place, a 1966 Corvair Corsa, belongs to Torre Miller of Sunfield, 2nd place, a 1950 Studebaker Champion, belongs to Bruce Mitchell of Grand Ledge. The People’s Choice was awarded to Dan Van Demortel of Ionia with his 1964 Chevy Nova SS.

The sixth annual Home Run Derby had 10 entries. Home run derby champion Dylan Cuddahee had nine home runs. Second place went to Dylan Kemp. The eighth annual Sunfield Farmers Picnic Cornhole Tournament got underway at 10 a.m. with a total of 28 teams participating. Tier 1 Division (with 14 teams) winners were 1st place – Strictly Business, 2nd place – Lushes Hair and 3rd place – Primetime Cornhole. In the Tier 2 Division (with 14 teams) winners were 1st place – Payne Brothers, 2nd place – Stepbrothers and 3rd place – Ted & Greg. The annual William Bosworth Memorial Horseshoe Tournament had eight 2-person teams participate. Kara Feehan and Dusty Shepard placed first; George Sutliff and Rodney Fothergis placed second and Ellis Conley and Nick Zettelmaier placed third.

There was the Sunfield Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY’s) Dime Pitch booth, Daughters of the Union Veterans mini putt putt golf, Pluck-a-Duck Pond sponsored by Gizzy Downing and Mason Rail Time Adventures providing games and rides for children of all ages as well as BINGO for the adults provided by the Portland Area Service Group. Ming the Magician entertained children of all ages under the Big Tent. Heidi Freeman provided face painting for the children. Twenty-two crafters and/or independent vendors gave the attendees plenty to peruse and six food vendors including Joe’s Gizzard Wagon, Lakewood Wrestling, the Methodist Mint, Mitten Made Lemonade, Sugar Babies Cotton Candy and S & K Confections Elephant Ears took care of everyone’s enjoyment needs.

In the ninth annual float decorating contest, there were four entries. The Sunfield Historical Society won with their entry with a covered wagon with Robert Avery, Richard Hager, Doris Feasal and Marlene Trask dressed in period clothing and waving to the crowd. The Sunfield District Library Reading Program “All Together Now” float came in second place with the Daughters of the Union Veterans and the Messer Family wagon float not far behind.

Seven Best of Show ribbons were presented during the Open Class Craft Exhibit sponsored by the Sunfield SPY’s to Julie Roth with her Butterfly quilt, Kristen Kennedy for her crocheted afghan “A Little R&R” and Everett Swift for his acrylic painting of an elk near a river coming from the mountains as judged by Sherry Eberly and Sheila Carpenter. Brian Wellwood for his Nature photo in Slot Canyon, Utah and People photo of a child and dog tossing leaves, and Lance Eldridge for his Animal photo of a beautiful Monarch butterfly and his Photo in the “Other” category of the Air Force Thunderbirds as judged by Jody Strang. There were 106 items exhibited by 49 participants. The youngest entrant was 4 years old and the furthest to attend was from Gaylord.

The Frog Jumping Contest had two categories this year, those that collected and brought their own frog totaled 9 and those that used frogs from the communities’ bucket that were collected by Trent Brummette courtesy of Centennial Acres totaling 18. Some of the winners included: In the Community frog jump event: Bredan Gaune’s frog took first place jumping 89 inches in three jumps. Second went to Abe Carrasco with his frog jumping 83 inches and Third place went to Parker with his frog jumping 78 inches. The SFP Board President and VP chose the “Best Named” frog of Little Tim in honor of the Grand Marshal Tim Rumfield belonging to Quinn Brummette. From those that brought their own frogs, Maverick Hough had the “Biggest” frog and took first place for the longest jump of 111 inches in three jumps. Frances Omara’s frog took second place for the longest jump of 109 inches. There was a tie for Third place between Jaxson Overbeck and Dean Kelly with their frogs both jumping 80 inches each. Kaylee brought the “Smallest” frog. There was even some excitement when Maverick’s frog took off on its own adventure and had to be captured several feet away from the jumping ring. The coolest frog compartment goes to Forrest.

The beloved Ox Roast sandwiches sold out quickly. The Sunfield Farmers Picnic 2023 Merchants Raffle third place prize of a $100 Van Neste-Wilson gift certificate was won by Lesia Brummette, second place prize of a Bench donated by Polly Products in Mulliken was won by Kevin Brummette and Mapes Furniture donated an electric recliner chair with a USB charger port that was won by Pete Weller. There were 73 additional prize packages that were awarded throughout the concert of the Papa Clutch band who sang and entertained the audience for nearly two hours. The evening closed out with 7.5 minutes of non-stop kick-butt pyro by Pyrotecnico which ended with an American Flag lit at the discharge site.

This was the 52nd Annual SPYs Softball Tournament with five men’s teams (Downing Well, Best Tax, House, Buddy Heild and Big Gare & Boyz) and 4 Coed teams (Make a Play, Ballz Deep, Just 4 Fun and Los Primos). Both divisions played round robin, then single elimination tournaments. Most Valuable Player was awarded to Downing Well Drilling first place team player Aden DeGraaf in the men’s division. Team Make a Play defeated second place team Ballz Deep in the Coed division.

There were many volunteers in addition to the members of the Board that helped make this event a memorable one but additional committed individuals would help make lighter work for this successful community event. Please contact the Board at sunfieldfarmerspicnic@gmail.com to offer any future assistance, ideas or to find out more about the event scheduled for August 15-17, 2024. Visit the Sunfield Farmers Picnic Inc Facebook page to see all the photos.

Photos:

Photo 1: 1st Place Car - Kendall Wilcox, Sunfield 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator (photo provided by Paul Campbell)

Photo 2: 2023 Prince Kyler Pruden and Princess Leta Hoffman (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 3: Best of Show award winners of the SPY's Open Class Craft Exhibit (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 4: Coed winning Team Make a Play - Monica Koehler, Kailah Jackson, Ciara Wilson-Santos, Terri Hurosky, Courtney Brassington, Logan Vasquez, Tyler Bowerman, Dalton Phillips, Travis Veenstra, Travis Shattuck (photo provided by Shana Cappon)

Photo 5: Float Decorating Contest winner Sunfield Historical Society. Robert Avery driving the tractor with Richard Hager, Doris Feasal and Marlene Trask on the wagon. (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 6: Maverick Hough shows his BIGGEST Frog! (photo provided by Rod Clark)