The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Americana Festival names 2011 grand marshals and its theme

Longtime community volunteers Robert “Hutch” O’Connor and Pat O’Connor will be the grand marshals of the 2011 Americana Festival.

Contributed photo Longtime community volunteers Robert “Hutch” O’Connor and Pat O’Connor will be the grand marshals of the 2011 Americana Festival.

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

Staff Report 11:38 AM Friday, March 25, 2011

CENTERVILLE — The 2011 Americana Festival has named longtime Centerville residents and festival volunteers Robert “Hutch” and Pat O’Connor grand marshals of this year’s event.

Grand marshals are longtime volunteers

Hutch O’Connor has been retired since 1996 from his position in corporate industrial and labor relations, and spent nearly 30 years at NCR.

He has been an active volunteer in the community and with his church, and has served as president, vice president and liaison for the University of Dayton Lifetime Learning Institute. The UDLLI offers continuing education and enrichment to seniors.

Hutch also is a past president and executive director of Americana, and has been involved in the event since 1994.

Pat O’Connor was a stay-at-home mom to five children. She is a skilled seamstress, performing the monogramming at the Village Peddler from 1968-80. She volunteers with the Centerville Historical Society, the Americana Festival and her church.

Pat also assists elderly residents of Oak Creek Terrace Nursing Home with creative sewing, and has taught CCD at St. Charles School for eight years and has been a member of St. Charles Canticle Choir for more than 40 years.

The O’Connors also have played Santa and Mrs. Claus for more than 40 years at schools and at Woodland Lights in Washington Twp.

‘An Old-fashioned Fourth’ planned

In keeping with this year’s theme, “An Old-fashioned Fourth,” participants in the 2011 Americana Festival are encouraged to focus on a historic era that suits their organization.

Festival leaders also are looking for groups in period dress from past decades, and re-enactors from war eras to participate in the parade and pose for pictures with visitors during the street fair.

The Americana Festival draws approximately 75,000 people to Centerville each year, and is believed to be Ohio’s largest Independence Day celebration and the largest one-day festival in the state.

For more information about the event, visit www.americanafestival.org or the event’s Facebook page at “Americana Festival.”

For those who want to sponsor or participate in the 2011 Americana Festival, call (937) 433-5898 or visit www.americana festival.org.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article