LINCOLN PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Lincoln Park Days is back at Youth Center Park, bringing carnival rides, live music, food and fun to the community — and raising money that supports local programs throughout the year.
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The annual festival is organized and funded by the Lincoln Park Exchange Club, a local service organization with a century of history in the community.
"It's 100 years of experience, so we hope you come out, and we hope you have a great time," Exchange Club member Tom Karnes said.
Karnes said it takes months to put the festival together, from bringing in the carnival and booking entertainment to coordinating vendors.
"Well, you will have an old-timey fair experience. You have a lot of vendors that are up and down that will be selling various things from lemonade to homemade wares," Karnes said.
General admission is free, but every wristband purchase, Friday night concert ticket, vendor sale, and other spending helps fund the Exchange Club's work.
"What we do is we turn around and give all the money that we get to programs from this," Karnes said.
Those proceeds support scholarships for high school students, youth programs, local organizations, veterans, and child abuse prevention efforts.
"Anything and everything to do with the community," Karnes said.
The festival is also an opportunity for local vendors to grow their businesses. Anna McTaggart, owner of Creative Writing and Wears, sells unique pens at the event and says the exposure is unlike anything she gets elsewhere.
"It's just a lot of fun," McTaggart said.
"At a community fair like this, the exposure is quadrupled," McTaggart said.
She added that the support goes both ways — the festival offers low booth rent to give small businesses a chance to grow, while those businesses help keep the community connected.
Lincoln Park Mayor Maureen Tobin said the community connection the festival provides is especially important right now, amid recent controversy over water rate increases.
"Yes, there has been a lot of controversy, and I just want everybody to know that the city wouldn't make these decisions if it wasn't very necessary," Tobin said.
She said events like Lincoln Park Days offer residents a chance to focus on what brings them together.
"Walk around, see everything that's happening, see old friends, see family," Tobin said.
This year's festival features a new addition: Friday night's headliner is a ticketed show, drawing a larger crowd to kick off the weekend.
Lincoln Park Days runs through Sunday. Organizers say the impact of the festival, however, lasts far longer.
"In the end, we're just trying to make Lincoln Park a better place and that, in the end, when you're able to do that, when you're able to help somebody, it makes you feel better inside," Karnes said.
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