It was a beautiful day in Landmark for their annual Friendship Festival and lots was happening.
They had a softball tournament, food trucks, vendor village, and so many activities for the kids including a magic show, face painting, bouncy castles, foam party, and more.
Amanda Reimer, event coordinator says that she was in grade 9 when her classmate chose the name ‘Friendship Festival’, and she thought it was the perfect name.
“We have been doing the Friendship Festival, it’s been on and off for around 20 years. It was a contest to name it, which I thought was super cool. I liked that they chose that name because we are such a small-town community, and we all are connected in some way or another. We’ve been having the festival just to be a community-based event and bring everybody together and have fun.”
She explains why she decided to be a part of the committee that puts on the event.
“I’ve always loved it because I love the idea of community and I love the idea of getting together and showing each other that we can have fun and we can eat together, break bread together, I love that. Any chance that I can in supporting the community as a whole, I'm in.”
The event is put on by the committee and takes many community members volunteering for the day to be a success.
“We’ve got a small committee and I wish we had a bigger one. We only have 4 because all of us really can’t commit a huge amount of time, and yet we’re putting on an entire event with just that small committee. But for volunteers, we end up getting an additional 50 to 60 or more volunteers to help with bouncy castles, standing at the parade to make sure people don’t cross the line, set up and take down. It’s great when they can come out and help.”
You could be winning the beautiful shed that is outside of Wendy’s right now. Scan the QR code on the shed or the Show Us Your Summer Jeep when you see us at events in the Southeast.
Find out the weekly photo prompt on the Wendy’s SUYS contest page and send in your photos to win the weekly prize or a Golden Ticket which gets you a chance to win the shed!
The vendor village was filled with many incredible vendors. There was jewelry, clothing, homemade cotton candy, 10-minute chair massages, and more!
Boberta’s Dragons Reptile Rescue was also a vendor and founder Annette Lyss explains why they came to the Friendship Festival.
“We are a rescue out of La Broquerie and we are here to help raise awareness of our rescue as well as to help raise funds to continue operations. Reptiles come to us, unfortunately, many of them are very sick and we need to provide specialty veterinary care to them in order to get them healthy again.”
She says that a wellness check for reptiles is not overly expensive but once they become sick and they need specialty care, costs begin to increase.
“The other thing we are doing is educating people on why it’s very important that you do proper research before you get any animal, especially reptiles, and that you make sure that you have all the equipment before you do get them because a lot of the animals that we get, the reason that they are sick is because they didn’t have proper care before they came to us.”
She continues, “Make sure you’re ready for that commitment before you get a reptile. And if you are wanting to get one, please consider getting a rescue, or get from a reputable breeder.”
Lastly, Lyss encourages anyone who is interested in adopting one of their reptiles to visit their Facebook or Instagram page and reach out for further inquiries.