State, Local History to be Featured at Pulaski County Torchfest

torchfest-logoA festival celebrating Indiana’s Bicentennial, as well as all things Pulaski County, gets underway this afternoon in Downtown Winamac. TorchFest kicks off with the arrival of the Indiana Bicentennial Torch and continues through Sunday afternoon. “We’re going to just have a really nice celebration of Pulaski County, says Pulaski County Bicentennial Coordinator Krysten Hinkle. “We’re going to be having kiddie rides. We’ll have an exotic animal show, free movies – both at the Isis and on the courthouse lawn, tons of live entertainment and a beer garden, lots of food vendors, just lots of things going on.”

Festival goers will also get a chance to preview a time capsule the county’s putting together to mark the Indiana Bicentennial. “We are actually going to be burying that on December 11, which is Statehood Day, but during TorchFest, we thought it would be nice to have that on display so that people can view it and also possibly drop things into it,” Hinkle says. “Pictures, photos, any kinds of things that they might want to put into it, we’ll have a place for them to bring, right there where it’s being displayed.”

Hinkle also says a free Pulaski County history movie will be featured at the Isis Theatre Saturday morning at 11:30, “It has different footage from the 1940s, the 1950s, things like that, just different moments in Pulaski County history that a lot of us aren’t aware of.” There will also be a Made in Pulaski County Expo taking place throughout the weekend to demonstrate the range of products made by local manufacturers.

TorchFest came about as a combination of the annual Spirit of Pulaski County Festival hosted by the county’s chamber of commerce, and the county’s celebration of the Indiana Bicentennial. More information and a complete schedule of events can be found on the TorchFest Facebook page.