Janesville Hay Daze dazzles

Fashion and pageants. Music and tournaments. All that and more were part of this year’s sixty-fifth Janesville Hay Daze celebration, which began June 9 and continued through June 15. Grand Marshall this year was Dave Blasing.

 

Monday was a fashion show sponsored by Simply Saved Thrift Store of Janesville at the Trinity Lutheran Church Discipling Center. Janesville Bowl had a special edition of Moonlight Colored Pin Bowling on Tuesday evening starting at 6:30 p.m.

 

The outgoing Miss Janesville, Ariana Aguilar, helped bring in the new Miss Janesville, Chloe Kaiser, with first attendant Kayleigh Donner and second attendant Hudson Miller on Thursday evening; there were seven contestants.  Following the Miss Janesville Pageant was Main Street Mayhem, a wrestling event put on by Minnesota wrestling league Paradise City Wrestling. The “mayhem” took place in the Main Street entertainment area. Mitch Paradise defended his championship in the main event with plenty of matches wrestled throughout the night.

 

Prairie Ridge Golf Course kicked off the festivities for Friday, June 13, with a golf tournament at 9 a.m. In the evening, it was the start of the first night of carnival rides provided courtesy of Crescent City Amusements. Single session armband passes were for sale at Janesville Hardware, Janesville State Bank, Arnoldt’s Good Spirits, and Wiste’s Meat Market.

 

For a dance on Friday evening, Generation Gap, a duo made up of Rod Scheitel and grandson Carter Quast of Janesville, played the first musical act. The group IV Play took the stage at 9 p.m. 

 

On Saturday the Hay Daze 5k/walk and run had winners Christian Raether in first and Makenzie Westphal in second. The medallion hunt began at 10 a.m., winners were Ed and Sharon Mulcahey.  An afternoon family-friendly kickball tournament took place at Lakeview Park. During that action, the turtle races and kiddie carnival took place at Whispering Creek Nursing Home.

 

An adult bean bag doubles tournament took place in the Chamber tent off of Main Street beginning at 11 a.m. A youth bean bag tournament followed at 2 p.m.

 

Other activities throughout the afternoon included a dart tournament at the Purple Goose, a game of lightning at the JWP outdoor basketball courts, and face painting, lighted balloon art, and glitter tattoos at the intersection of Main and Second Streets.

 

Musical entertainment Saturday evening was the Janesville trio Family Tradition featuring Doug Berndt and children Josh Berndt and Alicia Addler at 6:30 p.m. The main act on the Guardian Energy stage was Junk FM at 9 p.m.

 

For Sunday, aside from performing on the Guardian Energy stage, Family Tradition shared pre-church-service music at 9:30 a.m. in the Chamber tent. A service sponsored by Trinity Lutheran Church followed at 10 a.m. An antique tractor display and Basketball Wagon were on North Main Street starting at 11 a.m.

 

Wrapping up the festivities was the Hay Daze parade — also known as the Fathers’ Day parade — at 1 p.m. The carnival stayed open from 1-5 p.m. before shutting down for good, and bingo took place in the Chamber tent from 3 to 5 p.m.

 

A celebration that’s been going for many decades, Hay Daze has been made possible by the Janesville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Hay Daze Committee. All proceeds from this year’s Hay Daze will go to future celebrations. The Janesville Chamber would like to thank everyone for helping to “keep the town tradition alive.”