‘Sugar Beets and Sunflowers’ theme of October 4 fall festival

A day of fall fun is planned next week when the Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce and local merchants host Sugar Beets and Sunflowers, a fall festival in downtown Lovell next Saturday, Oct. 4.

The event has been in the works for weeks, according to chamber manager Linda Morrison and co-organizer Cindy Asay of Wild Edge.

Morrison said the event is part of a transition from the weekly farmers market and the downtown Saturday market to the holidays.

“We want to build off of that and create some enthusiasm for downtown and not wait clear until Christmas, because we haven’t done anything here since June,” Asay said. “You know, we don’t have any big fall events around here anymore.”

Quoting chamber president Cameron Miller, Morrison said the purpose of the festival is to reinvigorate the community before the holiday season, and she added, “We’re just trying to bring some goodwill and commerce to our town. The summer has been great, with the tourism, and we don’t want to lose that.

“This is the first one. We want to continue and build on it,” Morrison said. “So fall comes, kids are back in school and we’re ready for something to look forward to. Really, that’s what it is, something to look forward to.”

Asay and Morrison joked that they came up with the name Sugar Beets and Sunflowers because “Fall Festival” is too boring, with Morrison adding that the theme “has some life to it.”

“No one else can claim that, because we are the sugar beets,” Asay said. “Maybe Worland, but harvest is a big thing here. The sugar factory almost triples their employment, and we have that unique aroma. It’s just unique to us. And so keeping the sugar beets in there, I think, helps.”

“We’re very grateful for campaign,” Morrison added. “It means money in the community and, in a way, it is showing appreciation. We’re having this festival, but it also shows appreciation for the factory without it being just for the factory.”

“It’s not just a Western Sugar thing. It’s just a fall fun time,” Asay said. “It’s not industry driven, but it’s recognition of that industry.”

The event

Sugar Beets and Sunflowers opens October 4 at 9 a.m. or whenever a participating business opens its doors.

“It’s just kind of an all-day event with different things going on all the time, Asay said. “There’s not really a set time.”

Participating businesses so far are Wild Edge, Queen Bee, Valley Flowers, KB Lumber, the Horseshoe Bend Motel Boutique, Barber Mafia, Hyart Theatre, SweetArt Cake Company, Pizza Factory, Lovell Drug, the chamber of commerce and the Lovell-Kane Area Museum. The day will begin with a vendor market in the downtown mural park next to Wild Edge.

If other businesses are interested in participating or volunteering, they may call Morrison at 548-7552 or Asay at 272-9380. To reserve a table at the vendor market, call 272-9380 or 548-6052.

Some of the activities being planned are games, a sugar beet toss at KB Lumber, selfie stations, a caramel apple bar, sidewalk and in-store shopping specials, face painting, pumpkin painting and the kickoff of the winter coat drive.

The Pizza Factory will have a special Saturday opening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Morrison and Asay said, and the Horseshoe Bend Motel will have numerous pumpkins to paint. Western Sugar will have a table at the vendor market, and The Point youth house will hold a bake sale at the market.

“One of my vendors at the Saturday morning market is going to do white chicken chili and cinnamon rolls, and I’m trying to get some breakfast things lined up,” Asay said. “I’m doing a caramel apple bar at the market, too, with Queen Bee caramel.”

Some stores will offer in-store specials and drawings, and the Hyart will sell popcorn.

“There’ll be some good deals, and it’s to encourage people to see what our own retail businesses have to offer, especially as they get prepared for the Christmas season by (noting) some of these good things that they see,” Morrison said.

Added Asay, “We hope that people will come out and reconnect with their businesses before they start holiday shopping in their pajamas on Amazon. It’s not so overwhelming and over-scheduled, like Mustang Days. It’s just supposed to be a relaxing, fun day.”

There will be drawings for chamber bucks throughout the day, and shoppers can sign up at the chamber building.