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Volcano Days celebration going strong

VOLCANO – After 25 years the annual Volcano Days Festival is still drawing large crowds to Mountwood Park.

Jeremy Cross, Wood County Parks director, said people who have been part of the event for several years said attendance Saturday may have been the best ever.

He said the first night on Friday was down some, but Saturday, with its summer-like warmth with a hint of fall, was a different story.

“Today has been the biggest I’ve seen,” he said. “Some people who have been here for 25 years say it’s the biggest crowd they’ve seen at Volcano Days.

“There were a lot of high school homecoming games Friday so that caused the crowd to be smaller than usual,” Cross said. “We’ve added some different entertainment this year.”

On Friday the headliner group was South of the River Band and Saturday’s was Plan B. Cross said the festival is focusing on a younger audience while still keeping some of the traditional music.

“We are trying to get a little different music along with the more traditional country, bluegrass and gospel,” he said. “This year we have classic rock and new country in the mix.”

Cross said while he had no count of how many attended as of Saturday, it appeared to be one of the biggest crowds for the 25-year-old festival.

In addition to more attendees he said the number of vendors increased as well, with 160 vendors.

“They are selling every thing from honey to arts and crafts to crafts for the home,” he said.

Cross said two new attractions were added, a bungee jump and a petting zoo. He said the helicopter rides around the Volcano area were back for the second year. The tractor rides around the park and to Volcano were filled up early.

Volcano Days commemorates Volcano, the oil boomtown that burned down in 1879 but at one time filled the valley with houses, shops and other business.

At noon today, the annual Volcano Reunion will be in the basement of Stiles Administration Building.

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