CADILLAC — The Labor Day holiday weekend is fast approaching and many people will be out and about looking for things to do.
For those of you planning on staying close to home this holiday, here are some events and festivals to check out this weekend.
Houston's Cow Camp Rodeo returns to McBain from Thursday, Aug. 29 through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2. The rodeo will be held at the event grounds on Green Road, just off West Gears Road in McBain.
Signs will be installed to guide visitors to the venue.
Event co-organizer Kari Houston said campers can choose any location on the 400-acre property, and registration will open at the start of the cattle camp.
Weekend camping fees are $65 for adults and $35 for children between the ages of 5 and 15. A family of four with two parents and two children between the ages of 5 and 15 would pay $170.
The rodeo will be held at 7:30 pm each day on Aug. 30, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children ages 4 to 12. Children 3 and under are admitted free.
The rodeo will feature bareback riding, bull riding, bull wrestling, barrel racing and breakaway roping, and Houston said riders from across the state are expected to participate.
New to this year's event will be Trey Casey the Kid in the Can, who will be acting as rodeo clown.
The CowCamp Rodeo is an International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA) event and was named the No. 1 outdoor rodeo by the association last year.
She said riders who participate in the rodeo can earn points to improve their IPRA standings and get a chance to compete in bigger rodeos later in the season.
“It's two hours of action and laughs,” she says. “It keeps everyone on the edge of their seats.”
The rodeo isn't the only event taking place over the holiday weekend.
Houston said campers can bring their horses and join other members of her family for a horseback ride starting at 1 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30. Riders will spend two hours touring the family's ranch and learning about the ranch's history.
There will be a ton of activities on Saturday, Aug. 31. Starting at 10 a.m., Cow Camp will host judges for the Most Patriotic Campsite Contest.
At noon, a family-friendly event will take place in the rodeo arena.
Houston said kids can take part in a variety of rodeo activities, including roping a dummy calf and riding a robotic bully.
A matinee performance will follow at 1:30 p.m. Houston said the performance will be similar to a rodeo, but more family-oriented.
The performance was introduced at last year's cattle camp to encourage more people to watch the rodeo.
The event will begin on Sunday, September 1st with a church service at 10am followed by a cornhole tournament and chili cook-off.
Registration for the Cornhole Tournament begins at 11:30 a.m., with the tournament itself starting at 1 p.m. Entry fees are $20 per team and $10 per youth team (15 and under). Up to 50 teams will participate in the tournament.
The chili competition will begin at 12:30 p.m., and Houston said participants will take part in the chili competition judging starting at 12:15 p.m., with tasting continuing until 1:30 p.m. Prizes will be awarded to tournament and chili competition winners.
Prior to the rodeo on Sunday, Lake City's Globe Inspirational Choir will perform starting at approximately 6 p.m.
The Menton Harvest Festival begins on Friday, August 30th and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 2nd. This year marks a major milestone for the festival as it celebrates its 100th anniversary.
The festival will kick off with the Menton Athletics Summer Series Finals, with athletics starting at 6pm and running at 6.30pm.
Musical entertainment will be provided by Sam Cronkite from 6 to 8 p.m., followed by Night Train from 8 to 10 p.m.
The Manton Area History Museum and Veterans Memorial Museum will be open Friday, August 30th, Saturday, August 31st and Monday, September 2nd from noon to 4pm.
The United Methodist Church will also host a used book sale and basket auction on Friday, Saturday and Monday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
On Saturday, Aug. 31, the Firefighters' Water Polo competition will begin on the basketball court at 10 a.m. Mike Moffitt, event coordinator for the Manton Area Harvest Festival, said the competition will be followed by a variety of children's games, entertainment, a zoo and a performance by juggler Clark Lewis at 2 p.m.
A cornhole tournament will be held at the skate park from 4 to 6 p.m., Moffitt said. People can sign up on the day to participate in the tournament.
One of the big events this year is the Craft Show and Flea Market on Railroad Avenue, which Moffitt said will have more than 50 vendors participating this year, the most ever.
Manton High School will also be hosting an alumni banquet, with the social gathering starting at 3:30 p.m. The banquet itself begins at 5 p.m. This year, the Class of 1985 will be honoring the Class of 1974.
The craft show and flea market will be held on Saturday from 10am to 6pm, Sunday from 10am to 5pm, and Monday from 8am to 6pm.
Moffitt said some of the biggest names in entertainment will be singing for festival-goers in celebration of the festival's 100th anniversary. Kaylin Pace will be first on stage on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., followed by Claudia Heuser from 5 to 7 p.m. and Deena Carter from 7 to 9 p.m.
Saturday will conclude with fireworks at dusk on Lake Billings.
Sunday, Sept. 1, kicks off with a pancake breakfast at the 5th St. Gym from 7-11 a.m. Horseshoes will be thrown at 10 a.m. at Rotary Park.
The car and truck cruise line will begin at Latitude 44 at 12:30 p.m., with the cruise starting at 2 p.m. Moffitt said they have brought back the horse pulls, which they didn't do last year.
The event begins at 1pm at the intersection of South and State Streets.
One event that was cancelled this year was the R/C/Boat Race on Lake Billings due to lack of participants.
Toby Keith, Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks impersonators will take to the stage from 2-5pm, followed by live performances by Silver Creek from 6-8pm and Jake the Dog from 8-10pm.
The Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 2, will kick off with the Harvest Festival Parade at 10 a.m. Moffitt said the parade procession will begin at 8 a.m. along Fifth Avenue.
The Manton Senior Center will be serving coffee and doughnuts to visitors from 8 to 11 a.m., and Liberty Ladies Aid, a quilting group from Manton, will host a bake sale and quilt raffle from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Manton Car Show begins at 10 a.m. and runs until 2 p.m., and Moffitt said typically 80 to 100 cars participate each year.
A quilt show will be held at the mill from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a raffle drawing at 3 p.m. The Rotary Club will host a chicken barbecue at the 5th Avenue gym starting at 11 a.m.
From 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Grand Traverse Pipes and Drums, the Manton Band, the Scottville Clown Band and juggler Clark Lewis will each take to the stage to perform.
The festival will conclude with a lumberjack competition from 1 to 5 p.m.
Moffitt said there will be raffles throughout the weekend to support the festival. Tickets are $1 each or six for $5. Prizes of $500, $300 and $200 will be awarded. Winners will be drawn after the lumberjack contest on Sunday between 4 and 5 p.m.
The Cadillac Area YMCA will host a series of races over Labor Day weekend to raise funds for its free membership program for seventh-graders.
The YMCA will be holding its annual Race Festival at the Cadillac Rotary Pavilion on Saturday, Aug. 31. Races taking place on the day include a 5K/10K, seven-mile relay, one-mile kids' fun run and a quarter-mile swim.
Bob Reddick, membership and marketing director for the Cadillac Area YMCA, said registration for the 5K/10K, 7-mile relay and kids race will open at 8 a.m. Registration for the swim race has already closed.
Registration for the 5K/10K and 7-mile relay races is $35 per runner, but the kids' race is free for anyone 8 years old and under.
The 5K/10K race will begin at 9 a.m. Reddick said runners will start at the pavilion and follow a series of course markers around Cadillac Lake.
Both races have turnaround points where volunteers will guide runners: 5K runners turn around on North Boulevard just after the Cadillac North Shore Condominiums;
Participants in the 10K race will turn around near the canal between Cadillac Lake and Mitchell Lake.
The seven-mile relay will start at 9:15 a.m. and go in the opposite direction to the 5K/10K, and Reddick said each of the relay's four legs will be split into different distances.
The first section is 2 miles and goes along the pavilion to Sunset Shores Resort, and the second section is 1.4 miles and goes from the resort to Lake Cadillac Resort.
The third section is 1.2 miles and runs from the resort to Kenwood Park, and the final section is 2.5 miles and runs from the park to the pavilion.
The one-mile kids' fun run will begin at 9:20 a.m. and will be the festival's newest race. It will start near the city pier and have kids run a half-mile out and back along the sidewalk, Reddick said.
The quarter-mile swimming race will start at 9:30 a.m. on Cadillac Lake. Reddick said the race will be canceled if swimming conditions are not safe.
Medals will be awarded to the top three finishers based on age and gender in every race.
The Cadillac Area Modelers Society (CAMS) 57th annual model air show will return on Sunday, September 1st.
The air show will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 584 S. Neilson St. in Tustin. Admission to the show is free, with a donation requested. Some seating will be available, but you are encouraged to bring your own.
CAMS club president Toby Dunford said the show is expected to feature between 25 and 30 different aircraft, including helicopters, turbine jets, fixed-wing aircraft and drones.
“There are new types of aircraft coming out, some bigger and faster than last year's,” he said, “and some that can hover low, which normal aircraft can't do. We have pilots who can do that, and we're going to bring them up to that level.”
There will be a fireworks show at 1 p.m., which Dunford said will feature military planes, both old and new, pretending to drop bombs to simulate war. Gasoline fireballs will also be shot into the air.
The air show will also feature craft vendors and food trucks.
Funds raised at the CAMS air show go towards supporting the club, which is a member of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA), and Mr Dunford said the money was being used to refurbish the club's grounds and to purchase training aircraft to encourage more children to get involved.