Down Home Days is this weekend

Tobacco Free Madison presents the 34th Annual Down Home Days Festival, parade and celebrity basketball game this week/weekend in Madison, a mix of arts, crafts, delicious food, entertainment, children’s games and bounce houses, as well as crazy Jeeps stacking in the parade just like they do in Orlando. On Festival and Parade day, April 18, roads will be closed on Range Avenue and U.S. 90 along Four Freedoms Park from 5 a.m. until approximately 6 p.m. to allow for safe walking throughout the Festival area. The NFCC Colin P. Kelly Fitness Center gets started at 7:30 a.m. registering Down Home Days 1K and 5K Run/Walk participants at the NFCC Fitness Center to experience a new route. Plenty of laughter accompanies two nights of Down Home Days Celebrity Basketball with three former Harlem Globetrotters, Melvin Adams, Alex Sanders and Mike St. Julien. The Championship 3 on 3 Game takes place on April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Madison County Central School gym. The winning players will be chosen at an April 16 tournament at 4 p.m. and spectators are welcomed. Then, for April 18, the Celebrity Versus Seniors All-Star Game brings student basketball players from Madison, Taylor, Lafayette, Suwannee, Jefferson and Hamilton County High Schools together at 7 p.m. against the former Harlem Globetrotters, who will be teamed up with community adults at MCCS gym. Tickets for both nights are $10, ages four and up, available at the door or in advance at the Madison County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism. Grand Sponsor Nestle Waters invites festival-goers to see the free 53-foot WaterVentures, Florida’s Learning Lab, which will set up on S.W. Pinckney Street in front of the Courthouse Annex. Families will enjoy environmental education exhibits in this interactive science lab. The Festival takes place from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Watch for a large number jeeps “stacking” in the Down Home Days Parade. This is how they have fun by driving up each other’s wheels and then backing down again. Parade floats and vehicles will line up at 8:30 a.m. at North Florida Community College, behind O’Neal’s Restaurant. Steve and Carol Touchton expect their Jeep buddies to show up with surfboards and “you name it” on their Jeeps to celebrate this year’s theme, Slam-Dunk for Exercise. Madison Academy’s parade float has a definite exercise theme this year, too. You may even be surprised to see a beauty queen with a tennis racket! Tri-County Electric Cooperative sponsors the Parade, which will head down U.S. 90 in front of Four Freedoms Park and then pairs off onto side streets. Madison County Community Bank once again is sponsoring the stunning Antique & Classic Car Show around Four Freedoms Park. “We’ve prepared 35 door prizes and goodie bags,” said Edward Meggs, MCCB president, for show participants. One green Mustang owner in Madison said he can’t wait to see the cars again this year and sightsee them all. CenturyLink is another Corporate Down Home Days sponsor and they’ll have a booth downtown to check out for information. The Frog Hop Contest sponsored by Clerk of Court Tim Sanders and Dr. John Lewis of Madison Veterinary Clinic is heating up for 1:30 p.m. April 18 at the Madison County Courthouse. This event brings a crowd and lots of hopefuls for the Grand Champion Hop-Off. For anyone who considers himself or herself a King of the Grill, the Down Home Days BBQ Cook-Off is Thursday, April 16, in Four Freedoms Park in downtown Madison. The Cook-Off is sponsored by Tobacco Free Madison and hosted by Boyz to Kings. Anyone who wants to participate should call the Chamber to get details and sign up – it’s limited to 10 participants. After judging on April 16, BBQ dinners will be available for $6 at the Park from 5:30-6:30 p.m. during the Pet Contest. The Madison Veterinary Clinic Grooming Department sponsors the delightful Pet Contest in Four Freedoms Park Thursday evening, April 16, a well-attended event that brings out the best in pets and their owners. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m.; the competition begins at 6 p.m. The Becky’s Dance Steps Studio Recital begins after the Citizen of the Year announcement on Friday night, April 17, at 6 p.m. at the Courthouse Annex. “We’re doing a very unique theme, iDance, it’s all about apps,” explained Becky Robinson. “Every dance is centered around apps on an iPhone.” She said the dance team is hoping to perform their Ocean Adventure production with sailors, swab deck, pirates and tourists. See the “Down Home Days” and “I Love Madison County Florida” Facebook pages for the latest schedule and updates.