What a weekend

Mike Grant, Washington Times-Herald, Ind.
·2 min read

Jul. 1—The welcome mat is out in Daviess County over the long Independence Day weekend. There are events from Washington to Loogootee and Odon. Some are patriotic, some are not, and some are a mixture.

"This is going to be a pretty good weekend," said President of the Daviess County Tourism Board DeWayne Shake. "Any event that we can have to bring people to Daviess County is a score for us. A weekend like this is what we hope for and work towards."

Washington, Odon and Montgomery are all hosting patriotic events over the weekend. At Washington's Eastside Park people are turning out and anticipating the Monday night fireworks.

There will be fireworks as well on Sunday night at West Boggs Park as the park holds a party as part of its 50th anniversary.

"Superintendent Jameson Hibbs has done such a good job to promote West Boggs and they are making it a big, big weekend," said Shake. "They have been working on it for the past year now. There's live music, the huge fireworks show, a boat parade and golf cart parade. That place is a gem. It will be a good time this weekend."

At Dinky's in the Amish community is and event that is bringing more than 10,000 people to the county. The Horse Progress Show may not be something that runs annually but it is part of a bigger picture about tourism and the financial impact it can have on the area.

"People underestimate how big that is to have that event here in our community," said Shake. "Our Amish Community is already big and we have a lot of people visit, and to have an event like that in our county is going to bring people in from everywhere and stay in our community. A lot of money is spent by people heading to that event."

Officials have estimated that each tourism or visitor generated dollar rolls over in the community as many as seven times. That makes this kind of weekend one that should be good for area merchants.

"We welcome everybody," said Shake. "Hope they have a good time and come back and visit us again. All summer long there are things going on. Then when we get to September with the Antique Show and the Turkey Trot. The community has done a great job of putting together events. It's a great time to be in Daviess County for sure."