The 2018 Old Settlers Festival will be held at Pioneer Park (1101 Indianapolis Road) in Mooresville, Indiana on Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, August 5-6-7, 2018. The festival opens at the park at 3 p.m. on Sunday, and opens at 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.
Preceding the festival will be the Old Settlers Parade through downtown Mooresville at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 5, 2018.
This year, there will also be events held on Saturday, August 4, 2018, as mentioned in a newspaper article by Randy Haymaker (Mooresville-Decatur Times, Saturday, July 28, 2018), reprinted below:
Old Settlers update
From Randy Haymaker
Updated
MOORESVILLE — Mooresville Old Settlers Queen candidates Brianna Card and Brooke Uhls will finish their fundraising events today.
One of them will be crowned Queen of the event Sunday, August 5 at Pioneer Park.
The 147th rendition of the Mooresville Old Settlers picnic and celebration will begin a day earlier than normal this year, with the Delta Theta Tau Flagtown 5 and 10 K race/walk at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4, and an acoustical music festival from 1 to 8 p.m. the same day — both at Pioneer Park. Food service will be available.
The traditional outing is Aug. 5 to 7 at Pioneer Park on Indianapolis Road.
The event began in 1870, when town founder Samuel Moore donated five acres to hold a reunion of pioneers. With the exception of years during World War II, the festival has provided entertainment, food, fellowship and fun ever since.
Mooresville Lions Club has managed the event since just after World War II, when returning veterans restarted the festival. Profits from ride tickets and booth rentals are shared with the Mooresville park system and the remainder goes to charity throughout the year. No money is retained for club events, which are paid for through dues.
Many other community and school groups participate and use the festival to raise money for charitable causes. Area businesses and agencies also provide marketing and information booths.
The festival begins at Mooresville High School with the Veterans Parade at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5. Rides open following the parade, and the Kappa Kappa Sigma Queen coronation is at 7 p.m. The project raises money through a pancake breakfast, spaghetti dinner, bake sales and other events.
The first contest was in 1964, and over the years, $100,000 was raised to help buy equipment for the Pioneer Park swimming pool.
Entertainment on the stage begins right after the parade Sunday, followed by the queen contest and then music until 11 p.m. Performing Sunday will be the Spring Hill Christian Center, followed by Jim Harris’ band at 4 p.m. Mike Whitlock’s band will perform after the Queen Contest.
Music begins Monday night at 6 p.m. with Steve Byrd, and the Free Wheeling America Band will hit the stage at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Discount carnival ride tickets, saving up to 30 percent of cost, are available at the main, Monrovia, Plainfield and Heartland Crossing branches of Citizens Bank, Allen’s Barber Shop, the office of Dr. Phil Wright, Hong Kong restaurant, Village Barber Shop and the Pioneer Park office.
Visit the library's booth at the Old Settlers Festival (August 6-7-8, 2017) in Mooresville's Pioneer Park. Pick-up lots of free goodies and sign-up for free tickets to the Indiana State Fair.
This year's Old Settlers Festival will be held August 6-8, 2017 at Pioneer Park, which is located at 1101 Indianapolis Road in Mooresville, Indiana. Mooresville Public Library (MPL) will have a table in the non-profit organizations tent area.
The festival opens with the Old Settlers Parade through downtown Mooresville. The route begins at Mooresville High School and runs south along North Indiana Street, then turns east onto East Main Street to Samuel Moore Parkway. MPL will have a float in the parade again this year (click here to see our previous floats).
2016 MPL Old Settlers Parade Float
Learn more about the history of the Old Settlers Picnic from our previous blog post and the following video.
History of Old Settlers Picnic (1870-Present),
by Mooresville Public Library
(MPL Treasure Trove Video #6)
Drop by our table, if you have a chance.
1919 Mooresville's "Ford Gals"
Heading to Old Settlers
Myrtle Keller (1895-1997), shown at the steering wheel in the 1919 photo above, served at various times as clerk, assistant librarian, and circulation director at Mooresville Public Library during the 1960s and 1970s, and she was on the library board of trustees during the 1980s. We've blogged about her many times before.
Here are a few photos of the library's float in yesterday's (Sunday, August 7, 2016) Old Settlers parade. Click the images to enlarge.
Dude! You've just photobombed my picture. Plus, our cat (Cauli Le Chat) chewed on that piece of candy you're about to pick up. Just saying.
MPL executive director Diane Huerkamp (right) once again carries the library banner in the Old Settlers parade. Janet Hensley Moritz (left) also carries the banner.
Miss Beth-on-Tuesdays (backseat, looking out) was tossing Indiana State Flags attached to candy sticks to the crowd. We heard a little boy say there was a penny also attached, to give it sufficient ballast.
Above is one of the Indiana State Flag candy sticks that Miss Beth was tossing to the crowd.
At this year's Old Settlers Parade on August 7, 2016, Miss Beth and Miss Sharon have created a tasty giveaway that we will be tossing to the crowd from our float.
Indiana State Flag Candy Stick
The "flag pole" is a candy stick. The attached card features the Indiana State Flag, designed by long-time Mooresville resident Paul Hadley (1880-1971), with a description on the verso.
The 2016 Old Settlers festival in Mooresville, Indiana will be held on August 7-8-9 at Pioneer Park on Indianapolis Road.
Come see the library's float in the Old Settlers parade (Sunday, August 7 at 2 pm through downtown Mooresville), then join the fun afterwards at Pioneer Park when the Old Settlers festival gets underway (August 7-8-9). Visit the library's table there and get lots of free interesting materials.
Here are a few photos from our previous Old Settlers parade floats. Click the photos below to enlarge. The floats (from top to bottom) appeared in the 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 Old Settlers parades.
On Saturday, February 20, 2016, at 1 pm in the MPL community room, we will be having a program about Samuel Moore, founder of Mooresville, Indiana. In the video (below), we re-create a “narrative” of Moore at the Old Settlers Picnic (August, 1885). This “narration” has been assembled from various historical records available in the MPL Indiana Room collections. Although Samuel Moore did not actually give this speech, it is based upon accurate, authentic historical records.
The 2015 Mooresville (Indiana) Old Settlers Festival will be held at Pioneer Park from Sunday, August 9, 2015 through Tuesday, August 11, 2015. The festival begins with the Old Settlers Parade on Sunday, August 9, 2015, at 2 p.m., which runs along South Indiana Street into downtown Mooresville, then along East Main Street to Indianapolis Road to Pioneer Park.
Watch our video to learn more about the history of this annual event, which began as a town picnic on August 9, 1870. Our online handout about the picnic's history is also available.
We happened across some photographs of "old" Town Park, which we thought you might enjoy. Click the images to enlarge them.
"Old" Town Park (looking west) (circa 1909) (photo by J. P. Calvert)
"Old" Town Park (looking southwest) (circa 1885) (photo by J. P. Calvert)
Old Settlers Picnic (August 1885) at "Old" Town Park
(looking south) (photo by J. P. Calvert)
In 1877 town founder Samuel Moore donated land along the east end of South Street (adjacent to the east fork of White Lick Creek) to the citizens of Mooresville, Indiana to be used as a town park. The annual Old Settlers picnic was held there until 1995.
In the top photo (ca. 1909, above), you can see the east end of South Street. The road going to the right intersected East High Street. Heading toward the right (in the photo), you would enter Mooresville; going to the left, you would encounter the Waverly Road. Today you may see the boy scout pioneer cabin (constructed ca. 1932) atop the hill among the trees (see photo below).
The middle photo (ca. 1885, above) was looking southwest across "old" Town Park from the hill approximately where the scout cabin stands today. The Waverly Road appears to the left.
The bottom photo (August 1885) shows local citizens attending the annual Old Settlers picnic at "old" Town Park.
To learn more about the history of the Old Settlers picnic, click here.
Boy Scout Cabin (single-pin log construction) (ca. 1932)
Shelter House Built by Jake Mann in 1937
Jake Mann's Concrete "Signature"
"Old" Town Park Shelter House (2009 photos by the blog author)
2020 UPDATE:On April 8, 2020, a tornado flattened the shelter house in "old" Town Park. It was replaced in early 2021.
Jake Mann's Shelter House Destroyed by Tornado
"Old" Town Park, April 8, 2020
(File Photo by Mooresville-Decatur Times)
New Shelter House Under Construction
"Old" Town Park (January, 2021)
(Photo by Lance Gideon, Mooresville-Decatur Times, January 26, 2021)
