2024 Sunfield Farmers Picnic Brought Fun for All Ages

The Sunfield Farmers Picnic kicked off on Friday, August 16, with a half chicken dinner cooked by High’s Rotary Grill and sponsored by the Sunfield United Brethren Church, which sold out. The 2024 Prince is Paxtyn Robins, son of Hannah Curry, and Princess is Cecelia Salazar, daughter of Amanda Kemp and Eddie Salazar.  Their Royal Court includes Dixie Gibbs, Aurora McDiarmid, Daisy Juarez and Amelia Mull. 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 Family Farm Peddle Pull where the winners were Deacon Horn (1st), Orion Perreira (2nd) and Jayce Nurenberg (3rd) in the 5 – 6 year old group; Lucas Coffman (1st), Kyler Doney (2nd) and Alex McCoy (3rd) in the 7 – 8 year old group; Braelyn Gibbs (1st) in the 9 – 10 year old group and Reagan Grables (1st), Abe Carrasco (2) and Jameson Grieves (3) in the 11 year old group. Each participant received a participation ribbon and an individual bottle of Mooville milk donated by Nutrien Ag Solutions.  The grand marshal reception honoring Tom, Sherrie and Jay Wacha concluded the evening’s honors with stories, a State Tribute was presented to the Wacha’s by State Representative Gina Johnsen followed by cake and punch.  The evening ended with the movie “Over The Hedge” shown on a big screen under the Big Tent.

On Saturday, the Grand Parade kicked off at noon, themed “Helping Others” and honoring Grand Marshals Tom, Sherrie & Jay Wacha, included the Eaton County Sheriff Department followed by the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War carrying the United States Flag and the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 2024 Prince is Paxtyn Robins and Princess is Cecelia Salazar and their royal court Aurora McDiarmid, Daisy Juarez, the 2024 Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival Alt. Queen Caleigh Koontz, the Lakewood High School Viking Marching 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 “Adventures Begin At Your Library”,  the Sunfield Community Food and Clothing Bank and Hay Stack Taxi Service/Klotz Family Farms and  fire trucks from Sunfield, Vermontville, Odessa Twp., Woodland Twp. and Campbell Twp. participated.  Children lining the Village streets scooped up lots of candy.

The Fifth Classic Car, Truck, Tractor & Bike Show organized by Paul Campbell and Charlotte Cruisers took place on Main Street with 40 vehicles.  James Thompson, Newest car, 2010 Chevy Camaro; Torre Miller, Oldest car, 1932 Speedster Studebaker; Ed Lattimore, Newest Bike, 2005 Harley Davidson; Nolan DeVee, Oldest bike, 1982 Suzuki; Tony Jackson, Oldest truck, 1933 Ford pickup; Nolan DeVee, vehicle owned longest, 1979 Pontiac Trans Am; Mike Goodman, car custom paint, 1965 Marauder; Torre Miller, Diamond in The Rough, 1966 Corvair; Peg MacDougall, Original car, 1956 Thunderbird; Tony Jackson, Rat Rod, 1933 Ford Pickup; Jerry Aiken, Original truck, 1962 Chevy pickup; Ed Lettinore, Best Bike paint, 2005 Harley Davidson; Nolan DeVee, Best Bike, 1982 Suzuki; Nolan Chapman, Custom Paint Truck, 1987 Ford Bronco ||; Torre Miller, People’s Choice, 1932 Speedster Studebaker and Neal Miller, Best in Show, 1956 Golden Hawk Studebaker  Trophies were designed and made by Ron Kruger of Sunfield.

The seventh annual Home Run Derby had 28 entries. Home run derby champion Shannon Green had 10 home runs. Second place went to Cole Kennedy with 8 homeruns.  The tenth annual Sunfield Farmers Picnic Cornhole Tournament got underway at 10 a.m. inside the Caterpillar Clubhouse gymnasium with a total of 21 teams participating.  Tier 1 Division (with 10 teams) winners were 1st place – Team PTC (Adam & Cam Rairigh), 2nd place – Payne Brothers (Nate & Brady Payne) and 3rd place – Tyson & Mark.  In the Tier 2 Division (with 11 teams) winners were 1st place – Step Brotherington (Ashton Pfeifer & Seth Stein), 2nd place – High Caliber (Shawn Alcala & partner) and 3rd place – Grease Monkeys (Jerry Sandborn & partner).  The annual William Bosworth Memorial Horseshoe Tournament had seven 2-person teams participate.  Randy Shepard and Janis Nash placed first; George and Dustin Sutliff placed second and Fred and Carrie Newton placed third.

There was the Sunfield Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY’s) Dime Pitch booth, Daughters of the Union Veterans Pluck-a-Duck Pond, Spin-The-Wheel game sponsored by Gizzy Downing, Balloon Pop game sponsored by SKY Energy 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 and Marbles The Clown created balloon animals for the children.  Clark Lewis the Juggler entertained attendees with his juggling, sword swallowing and balancing act. Twenty-eight crafters and/or independent vendors gave the attendees plenty to peruse and six food vendors including Joe’s Gizzard Wagon, Lakewood Wrestling, the Sunfield United Methodist Mint, Mitten Made Lemonade, Ruby Cocina’s (taco truck), Sugar Babies Cotton Candy and Dodie’s Concession Elephant Ears and Lemonade took care of everyone’s enjoyment needs.

In the tenth annual float decorating contest, there were three entries.  The Sunfield Historical Society won with their entry with Robert Avery driving a tractor pulling a wooden wheel tractor depicting “Helping Hands, Helping Others” with Rosemary and Emily Parker, Levi and Ivy Shadduck and Sandra Meyers,  dressed in period clothing washing clothes and waving to the crowd.  The Sunfield District Library Reading Program “Adventures Begin in Your Library” float took second place followed by the Sunfield Community Food and Clothing Bank float.

Six Best of Show ribbons were presented during the Open Class Craft Exhibit sponsored by the Sunfield SPY’s to Jackie Mulholland with her “A Trip Around The World” quilt and Ashley Petrie for her crocheted afghan of a witch in flight and a pumpkin as judged by Sherry Eberly and Sheila Carpenter Wilson. Lance Eldridge for his Nature photo in Key West, Florida of the sunset with seagulls and the American Flag and Photo in the “Other” category of the old fort in Key West, Florida, DeAnna Clark for her Animal photo of an inquisitive Alpaca and Rain Hodack with her People photo of her son Colton holding a turkey as judged by Jeannie Hyvarninen.  There were 57 items exhibited by 26 participants with nine new participants. There were two 7 year old entrants up through 82 years of age.

The Frog Jumping Contest had two categories this year, those that collected and brought their own frog and those that used frogs from the communities’ bucket that were collected by Oren Best.  Isiah had the largest frog while RJ had the smallest frog of those who brought their own.  The Best Named Frog went to Wesley Brummette with “Little Timmie”.  The Winners for those who brought their own frog went to Liam in first place with jumps totaling 120 inches, Isaiah in 2nd place and Wesley in 3rd place.  The winners for those who used frogs from the community bucket went to Weston in 1st place, Evelyn in 2nd place and Brayden in 3rd place.

The beloved Ox Roast sandwiches sold out quickly. The Sunfield Farmers Picnic 2024 Merchants Raffle third place prize of a Weed Whip was won by Hannah Louthan, second place prize of a Bench donated by Polly Products in Mulliken was won by Robert VanHouten and Mapes Furniture donated an electric recliner chair with a USB charger port that was also won by Robert VanHouten.  There were 62 additional prize packages that were awarded throughout the concert of the Papa Clutch band who sang and entertained the audience for nearly two and a half hours.  The evening closed out with the singing of the National Anthem and 7.5 minutes of non-stop kick-butt pyro by Pyrotecnico.

This was the 53rd Annual SPYs Softball Tournament.  Both divisions played round robin, then single elimination tournaments. There were seven men’s teams and 5 co-ed teams.  Most Valuable Player was awarded to Abe Thompson from the Best Tax Service team.  Due to the weather, the first and second place teams decided to split the prize pot and stop the tournament. The tied team names are Michigan Mush and Best Tax Service. Team La Familia defeated second place team Hale Ballers in the Co-ed 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, 2025.  Visit the Sunfield Farmers Picnic Inc Facebook page to see all the photos.

Photo 1: 2024 Princess Cecilia Salazar, Prince Paxtyn Robins and Royal Court member Aurora McDiarmid

Photo 2: State Representative Gina present a State Tribute to Grand Marshals Tom, Sherrie & Jay Wacha

Photo 3: Sunfield Historical Society "Helping Hands Helping Others" with Robert Avery driving the tractor with Rosemary & Emily Parker, Levi & Ivy Shadduck and Sandra Meyers wave and toss candy to the onlookers.

Photo 4: Clark Lewis the Juggler balances ten folding chairs on his chin

Photo 5: Best of Show Lance Eldridge - Nature photo in Key West, Florida of the sunset with seagulls and the American Flag and Photo in the “Other” category of the old fort in Key.

Photo 6: Car Show Awards designed and made by Ron Kruger of Sunfield

Photo 7: Tony Jackson was awarded "Oldest" truck with his 1933 Ford pickup

Photo 8: Wesley (3rd place and Best Named frog Little Timmie), Liam (1st place), Isiah (2nd place & largest frog) & RJ (smallest frog)

Photo 9: Brayden (3rd place), Weston (1st place) and Evelyn (2nd place)

Photo 10: First place home run derby winner Shannon Green with ten home runs.

Photo 11:  Group photo of first & second place men's teams. Due to weather, the teams decided to split the prize pot and stop the tournament. The tied team names are Michigan Mush & Best Tax Service. Michigan Mush: Scott Krynski, Bruce Roberts, Matt Lockhart, Rick Collins, Kyle Painter, Shannen Greene, Steve Welc, Jason Brender, Steve Toporek, Jimmy Shawver, Jimmy Duda, Van Schwerin, Dominic Gabriel.  Best Tax Service team roster: Scotty Gore, Bud Guild, Chaz Arizola, David Arizola, Eddie Salazar, Dom Smith, Fred Fleming, Craig Cappon, James Courtney, Abe Thomas, Rick Stewart, Aaron Wresinski, Wes Wolcott, Dylan Kemp, Hunter Kemp and BJ Salazar.  (Do not have names of spouses and children due to the weather.)