Nick McWilliams reporting – The yearly Gateway to Fall Festival in Newcomerstown is bringing back goodwill in the community with new additions in 2022.
Held August 19th and 20th, the festival acts as a benefit to the Thomas R. Little Community Fund, founded by the friends and family of the late attorney who was proactive in Newcomerstown’s growth.
Mayor Pat Cadle says that in addition to their beer garden, vendors, and live music, the festival will feature a poker canoe and kayak run and duck race this year.
“If you do the Newcomerstown to Gnaden trip, it’s 17 miles. That’s why we call it Iron Man and Iron Maiden, because you’re going to be tired. Seventeen miles on a river is a long way, and it’ll take you five or six hours to get down there. We have two runs. We have Gnaden to Newcomerstown, and we have, for the lighterweights, we’ve got a six-mile run from Newcomerstown to the 751 exit.”
Cash prizes will be awarded to the best poker hands, and the top six finishers in the duck race will receive cash prizes.
Cadle also highlighted this year’s featured speaker in former Ohio State football player Greg Lashutka, who played under Newcomerstown-native Woody Hayes from 1963 to 1965 before spending a year with the Buffalo Bills. Lashutka was also a two-term mayor in the city of Columbus.
With the community purpose in mind, Cadle invited all Newcomerstown residents are every from surrounding towns to stop by and enjoy the weekend, which supports more than just the scholarships the foundation started with.
“They wanted to do more, so with the Gateway to Fall Festival, it helps with grants for local projects for other small groups that don’t have the money, and it can help them get a project started or completed. It also helps with people that going through a hard time. Maybe someone in their family is sick with cancer, and they have to go to Cleveland. It can give them money for food and gas.”
Sponsorship opportunities to support the fund are still available by mailing donations to the fund at 774 Cross Street, Newcomerstown. The fund also has PayPal and Venmo accounts.
The event starts on Friday with a pulled pork dinner that is pre-sale only with entertainment to follow, and the midway opening on Saturday at 11 a.m.
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