Plenty of fun planned in Cass City beginning Thursday

By Stacey Tucker
Staff Writer

CASS CITY — New events have been added to the 34th annual Cass City Freedom Festival which will begin July 4.
New this year is an entertainment tent at Rolling Hills Golf Course Friday and Saturday night and there will be monster truck rides at the park following the parade on Saturday.
“We’re trying to add a few events a year,” said Emily Phillips, Cass City Freedom Festival coordinator. “And we couldn’t do it without our great community support.”
Trigger Happy will be performing Saturday night at the entertainment tent and the popular local band Windfall will also be performing Saturday night from 8-10 p.m. at the Lions Pavilion in the park.
The annual craft show will kick off the festival on Friday, July 5 from 12 p.m. – 9 p.m. in the park. The craft show will also take place Saturday, July 6 after the parade until 9 p.m.
Also on Friday, there will be food vendors, free swim to the public at the Cass City Pool and a petting zoo and pony rides from 12 p.m. – 9 p.m.
From 4-8 p.m. at the south pavilion there will be a Methodist church ice cream social and the Little Miss Pageant, sponsored by Chris Barrios State Farm Agency will take place in the Gazebo from 4-7 p.m.
The minor league boys all star game will take place at 5 p.m. at the north ball diamond and the little league boys all star game will take place at 7 p.m.
The Classic Car Show will be attracting car enthusiasts at 6 p.m. at McDonald’s in Cass City and co-founder Geri Perry said she is expecting around 75 cars this year.
“Jim and I started this twenty years ago,” Perry said of her husband, Jim Perry. “We owned Jim’s Body Shop in town and it started off from that.
“We just decided we wanted to do something the Friday night before.”
Each vehicle that registers is given a ticket and Perry said normally every entry comes away with a prize donated by area businesses. Every entry also will receive a plaque donated by McDonald’s owner Jim Luthe. This year’s plaque will feature Cass City resident Chester Gaszczynski’s vehicle.
On Saturday, the morning begins with the Hills & Dales Rehabilitation and Fitness 5k and 8k race. The 17th annual 5K/8K begins at 8 a.m. at the Hills and Dales Center for Rehabilitation.
The Great Parade begins at 10:30 a.m. with Cass City Lion’s Club BBQ Chicken Dinner, 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, 2-Cycle Tractor Display, Thumb Smokin’ BBQ Competition, Excel Dance Studio Dancers and Monster Truck Rides following shortly after.
Great Parade coordinator Tyler Perry said they have quite a few parade entries for another great parade this year.
“It’s coming along pretty well,” he said. “We have about 60 entries right now, which will equal to a little over an hour parade.
The parade will start at Main and Brooker and continue to Ale where it will turn into the park.
Also after the parade, the Thumb Area Tail Waggers will be performing as well as the Eastern Michigan Music Makers. The LifeNet helicopter will be on display and there will be a free kids area co-sponsored by Thumb National Bank and local community donations.
There will be a free swim to the public after the parade at the Cass City pool sponsored by Reggie Ignash Farm Bureau. There will also be a petting zoo and pony rides, food vendors and bounce house following the parade.
From 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. the Thumb Smokin’ BBQ food judging will take place at the park and the MT Pocket Pullers Tractor Pull will be at 3-9 p.m. north of the park.
At dusk the Grand Finale Fireworks will take place, giving festival goers a grand show.
Phillips said she hopes everyone comes and enjoys themselves at the festival this year.
“Its always a family event and we welcome families from all the surrounding communities into the village of Cass City,”
The events are sponsored by Platinum Sponsors DTE Energy, Cass City Lions Club, Thumb Cellular, Thumb National Bank and Walther Farms.
For more information on the Cass City Freedom Festival, visit the festival website at www.ccfreedomfest.org.
Stacey Tucker is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at tucker@tcadvertiser.com.