By DOUG DONNELLY<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advance Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Blissfield River Raisin Festival hits the village this week with a carnival, entertainment, the annual Miss River Raisin Scholarship competition, fireworks, and a new Hot Dog eating contest on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The festival opens Thursday and continues through Saturday night in Ellis and Bachmayer parks along the River Raisin in Blissfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New to the Thursday night lineup is Open Mic Night, planned on the Pavilion Stage in Bachmayer Park starting at 5 p.m. Depending on the number of entries, this event could last until 9 p.m. According to festival officials, the event is designed to give local people a chance to entertain the community with talents in bands, combos and solo acts ranging from vocals, instrumentals, comedy, story-telling, dance, twirling and more. Entry is free. As a bonus, entertainers will be considered for a potential spot in next year\u2019s festival entertainment lineup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kicking off the show will be Dawson Carney at 5 p.m. singing and playing country folk music on guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elliott\u2019s Amusements Carnival also opens Thursday on the Ellis Park side of the river with Kelly\u2019s Inflatables on the west side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The festival will be filled with free entertainment, carnival, kids\u2019 corner, inflatables, softball, concessions, a free children\u2019s train and a new hot dog-eating contest Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s some highlights of the schedule:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thursday, July 9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 p.m. \u2013 Open Mic Night at the Pavilion Stage; Kids\u2019 Corner with Kelly\u2019s Inflatables; Blissfield Car and Bike Show<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 – 8 p.m. \u2013 Second Annual Jeep Show, Baseball Diamond<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friday, July 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All-Day \u2013 Elliots Amusements Carnival, River Raisin Market Place & Crafts, Kelly\u2019s Inflatables, Concessions, Merchant Vendors, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 p.m. \u2013 31st annual Miss River Raisin Festival Scholarship Program, Pavilion Stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 p.m. \u2013 Lightning Quick Gas N\u2019 Go Softball Tournament. Continues Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 – 11 p.m. \u2013 The KBB Band at the Pavilion Stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Dark \u2013 Friday Night Fireworks Show<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kids\u2019 Corner (Near Bridge, Bachmeyer Park)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 p.m. \u2013 Character Meet & Greet<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 p.m. \u2013 Karaoke & Bubble Party<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 p.m. \u2013 Fireworks Art Project<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9 p.m. \u2013 Fireworks Prep<\/p>\n\n\n\n Saturday, July 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All-Day \u2013 Elliot\u2019s Amusements Carnival, River Raisin Market Place & Crafts, Kelly\u2019s Inflatables, Concessions, Merchant Vendors, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All-Day \u2013 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, on Lane Street Downtown <\/p>\n\n\n\n All-Day \u2013 Lightning Quick Gas N\u2019 Go Softball Tournament <\/p>\n\n\n\n 10:30 a.m. \u2013 River Raisin Festival Parade<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 p.m. \u2013 Kids\u2019 Corner (near Bridge, Bachmeyer Park): includes character meet and greet starting at 1 p.m. and other activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1:30 p.m. \u2013 Hot Dog Eating Contest, Bachmeyer Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 \u2013 5 p.m. \u2013 Kiddie Pedal Tractor Pulls, Ricker Pavilion<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 p.m. \u2013 Metro Soul Band, Pavilion Stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 p.m. \u2013 Weenie Dog Race, Bachmeyer Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6 \u2013 9 p.m. \u2013 Stealin\u2019 Copper Band, Pavilion Stage<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By DOUG DONNELLY Advance Editor The Blissfield River Raisin Festival hits the village this week with a carnival, entertainment, the annual Miss River Raisin Scholarship competition, fireworks, and a new Hot Dog eating contest on Saturday afternoon. The festival opens Thursday and continues through Saturday night in Ellis and Bachmayer parks along the River Raisin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blissfield","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blissfieldadvance.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}