Chingawassa Days 2023 - 25th Annual Festival Weekend
25 years is a huge milestone and this year the festival Chingawassa Days
in Marion, KS had the opportunity to reach it. For 25 years this small
town has been hosting a festival full of fun events, great music artists, and
a huge chance to grow closer as a community and create memories with
friends and family. This year I was again invited back by the Chingawassa
Committee and I had an absolute blast! Scroll on down to read more
about my festival weekend and to see the vlog I put together!
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Chingawassa Day 1:
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After missing out on the community BBQ last year I made sure Nick and I arrived at the park early enough so I didn't lose my chance at my favorite food once again.
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Score! Got my BBQ! This community BBQ meal is included in your button/ticket into the park so definitely should take advantage of it if you can. Plus it is pretty delicious!
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After snagging our food we set up a blanket on the ground to sit on while
we ate our food (I forgot to grab my lawn chairs *face palm*) and
waited for my family to arrive and the music acts to start!
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Got my "family's spot" lol
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Not long after we finished with our BBQ my family arrived and then
Nick and I headed over to get us some dessert! Chocolate ice
cream for me and strawberry cheesecake ice cream for him.
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About 6:30-7:00pm the first music act of the night, local man Dylan Delk took
the stage performing mainly a full set of original songs. This was actually my first time
getting to hear Dylan play and I think he did pretty good!
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Dylan's Info:
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After Dylan's set it was time for Roy Patton to perform. This was another artist
I hadn't heard play, in fact, in all honesty I hadn't even heard of him, but
he also did a pretty good job performing covers for a lot
of well known older songs like "King of the Road."
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Once Roy's set was finished we had a little time to kill before the headliner
for the evening, Southern Accents, took the stage so I went with my
cousins, Shaina, Sheila, and Sage, my Aunt Marissa, and
Nick to check out the plant bus.
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"Amy...What the heck is a plant bus?!"
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I'm so glad you asked. lol A plant bus is pretty much a flower shop on wheels.
You board the bus and inside there were a ton of beautiful plants and
herbs you could buy right then and there and the owner just drives
the bus around setting up at different festivals all over the place. I
had never seen one of these before, but man was it super cute and a GREAT idea!
Shout out to Adam Heerey for getting her there and hopefully she can
come back next year cause I think it was a huge hit!
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By some miracle I walked off the bus without an armful of plants and settled
in for the final band of the night, Southern Accents who are a Tom Petty cover band.
I was actually pretty surprised by how many Tom Petty songs
I knew and how similarly to Tom Petty the lead singer actually sounded.
I spent a lot of the set dancing in my seat and just jamming out having a good time.
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Look at his hair just blowing in the wind. #hairgoals lol
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Some more fun pics from the night:
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Canon thought it would be fun to try to give me bunny ears...
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I got him back though. Lol
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And of course then Sage had to join in lol
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Cute clowns lol
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Chingawassa Day 2:
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Nick and I arrived back in Marion Saturday around 12:30 with our
first mission being to find food to eat for lunch. I had seen online
somewhere that Bill and Essie's BBQ was supposed to be in the park
and once I found their tent I knew that's where I was going to be eating.
I had been wanting to try their food for quite some time now after
drooling over pictures I have seen on their Facebook page
and y'all I gotta say I wasn't disappointed.
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Definitely recommend Bill and Essie's and I am excited for their permanent location to open in Marion!
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With FULL bellies Nick and I waddled our way over to the one day
event I was most excited for, the Weiner dog races!
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After the Weiner dog races it was time for the watermelon feed!
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And thennnn.....it started pouring rain. Luckily Nick and I were pretty
much done with the day events so we headed back to my brother's
house to wait out the storm and get ready for the concerts.
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The rain continued for quite awhile and it was starting to look like
there wouldn't be any music that night. However, the sky eventually
cleared up and the Chingawassa Committee was able to get the
stage all dried and ready only an hour behind schedule.
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First up for the night was Tyler Braden who had a GREAT opening set.
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And then after Tyler Braden was the big headliner of the
weekend, Whiskey On You singer Nate Smith!
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Cousins <3
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FRIED. OREOS. Definitely worth the wait.
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Weekend Outfits:
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Well I would say that Chingawassa Days 2023 was a huge success! Like
I said earlier I had so much fun and I just want to extend
a HUGE thank you to the Chingawassa Committee for inviting me back
again this year. Being able to not only attend Chingawassa Days, but
also be a small part of the team really means a lot! Y'all did an
absolutely amazing job once again and I am excited to see what you have in store for next year!
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Follow Chingawassa Days on social media to stay up to date on everything for next year!
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