The members of the Oelwein Celebrations committee(s) have donated a tremendous amount of time and energy to provide a successful and enjoyable celebration. As the community has changed, so have the committee members and the overall focus of the organization. Although the original committee was formed to provide an annual celebration for the 4th of July, those committee officers and members are no
longer active. As with many other organizations that have come and gone, the former Oelwein Celebrations, Inc. was reorganized in 2013 as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and is currently known as Oelwein Celebrations Renewed, Inc. It is the focus of the current organization and membership to provide a “family friendly” community celebration, not specifically intended as a celebration for the 4th of July. For this reason and the desire to be “good neighbors”, in 2014, the committee voted and changed the Oelwein Celebration date to the first Saturday of June in each year. The statement “being good neighbors” involved researching when our neighboring communities are hosting their community celebrations. We feel that all celebrations will be more successful when they are not overlapping on the same weekends. Considering the amount of time, energy and financial support each one of these celebrations requires to be successful, we feel that we are doing the best thing for the Oelwein celebration as well as the celebrations of our neighboring communities. The theme for our future celebrations is simply Celebrate Oelwein. In 2022, the events will run from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. The celebration will kick off on Friday evening with entertainment on stage and food vendors. Saturday will begin with the parade and a full day of activities at the Oelwein City Park - including stage entertainment, kids games & inflatables, bingo, a bean bag tournament, duck races, food and product vendors, evening entertainment, and fireworks by 4G's Pyrotechnics. Sunday morning, there's a Community Outreach Worship Service and the event concludes with a Bill Riley Talent Search and a Show & Shine for cars, motorcycles, and trucks. A second full day of inflatables for kids and bingo, and a bean bag event for youngsters and the young-at-heart! The committee is continuing plans and additional entertainment and events will be added. This committee also understands that events like this do not plan and/or execute themselves. It takes an army of dedicated, community-minded individuals to bring any festival to a point of success. We invite and encourage you to become a volunteer in the Oelwein Celebrations committee. Community support is important and we hope to have YOUR support for this next year's celebration! Feel free to communicate with us at [email protected]. Thanks for your support.
