One of Dickson’s longest-running traditions, Old Timers Day, is back for its 63rd year on September 24. The event will include a parade, a Kids Zone, a golf tournament, craft vendors, food trucks, live music, a pancake breakfast and more.
The first pre-parade day event will begin on Thursday night, September 22 with a farm-to-table dinner along South Main Street. Coordinated by the Dickson County Chamber of Commerce, tickets to the event usually sell out quickly. To get your tickets for this year’s event call, email, or come by the Chamber office. Contact Shea at 615-446-2349 or [email protected]. There are no holds, all tickets must be paid for in advance by cash, credit card, or a check. Dinner will begin at 6:00 p.m. All proceeds go to the Dickson County Agricultural Outreach Fund. Sponsorships are still available.
Friday’s events begin with lunch at 11:00 a.m. as part of the Dickson County Community Foundation Golf Tournament. It is the Foundation’s largest local fundraising event. It is a three-person shotgun start scramble. Places for team participation and event sponsorships are available by contacting Johnnie Morris at [email protected]. The Community Foundation is like an investment account for the county, the principal is never touched, but the earnings are used to fund grants to local non-profit organizations in one of three categories: education, leadership and quality of life. It was started in 1999 by a group of concerned citizens.
On Friday night, there will be a vintage car cruise-in on South Main Street beginning at 5:00 p.m. Cruise-ins allow those who own and those who like looking at classic or muscle cars to be connected. The event is free to the public.
Saturday is the big day, full of activities. The day begins at 6:00 a.m. with the annual Civitan Club Pancake Breakfast at First United Methodist Church. Breakfast will include pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs served with coffee and juice.
The Kids Zone, located on Walnut Street between Center Avenue and Mulberry Street, will open at 8:30 a.m. for families with special needs; it will open to the general public at 11:00 a.m.
What the whole town comes out to celebrate — the parade — will begin at 10:00 a.m. at Dickson County High School, then at 11:30 a.m. the music will start, along with food trucks and arts and craft vendors will open up for business. There will also be a Corn Hole Tournament to benefit the Child Advocacy Center, and Live Bingo in the War Memorial building. Applications for vendors and participants in the parade are still available.
The popular Gospel Music Stage will also begin at 11:30 a.m. emceed by Pam Weston. Weston has been involved in the gospel music scene for 13 years, and county music for 23 years. According to the event’s Facebook page, she sang with Grand Ole Opry star Bill Anderson in his Po’ Folks Band, and played piano and sang back-up vocals with artists Jeannie Seely, Helen Cornelius, and Sylvia. She has opened for Karen Peck and New River, Ivan Parker, The Talleys, The Old Paths, Triumphant Quartet, Tim Lovelace, The Dartts, and Three Bridges.
The buck dancing competition is not part of the festival this year, much to the dismay of some local residents, who are also unhappy with the moving of the festival from its May 60-year time slot to September. These detractors have been fairly vocal about disliking the modernization of festival activities on the event’s website, including the loss of arm wrestling, a liars’ contest and a tobacco spitting contest.
According to Dickson County Historian Alan Ragan, noted in a previous Dickson County Source article, the first Old Timers Day was in 1930 and took place during the County Fair. The event’s website notes that Old Timers’ Day Festival as it is known today began in 1959, and was sponsored by Ragan and Hamilton General Contractors.
