Times Bulletin: (Van Wert) Peony Festival Steps Into 40th Year

Nice. My dad chaired this at one time and believe me, it was a BIG deal for a little town. Floats would come from the Indy 500 to be part of the parade and of course my grandpa Shaffer, who was county truant officer at the time, kept an eye on all the kiddies (you know who you are). Heh. I even have old home movies of a couple of the parades. It was pretty impressive.

116048VAN WERT — The Peony Festival will celebrate its 40th year this weekend, June 5-7, with the theme “Blooming Colors for 40 Years.”

Van Wert was known as the peony capital of the world in the early 1900s with many local gardeners growing fields of the flower. The first Sunday in June beginning in 1902 was designated as Peony Sunday.

The community held the first Peony Festival in 1932 and continued until 1960 with some missed years during World War II and the 1950s. In 1992, the Peony Festival returned and has been celebrated each year since its resurrection.

In the early years, the festival highlight was not one, but two parades, which brought in crowds of nearly 100,000 people.

Now the festival spans three days, runs in conjunction with ArtRageous on Friday and Saturday, and offers various events that draw crowds all weekend.

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