POLAND — The Celebrate Poland Fall Festival will return 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday to Poland Village Hall.

What took place as a temporary fix to the 2021 Celebrate Poland event now will be an annual event as well, according to Cindy Best from the Celebrate Poland committee.

Celebrate Poland marked its 13th year in 2019. It was unknown then what the future would hold, but the pandemic struck early in 2020 and events across the board, including Celebrate Poland, were canceled that year.

The start of 2021 carried uncertainty, and as the pandemic began to wind down, there was not enough time to pull together the two-day event. Not wanting to give up and hoping to raise funds for this year’s event, Best said the decision was made to host a fall festival. The turnout was great, and the committee decided to keep that event.

“This is the first year we have had both,” Best said.

In June, Celebrate Poland returned and Best said it “was probably the most successful event we have had in all these years. The weather had something to do with the success, but also I think everyone was ready for a good time.”

She said the June event is expensive, running about $45,000.

“We are hoping to use the fall event to raise some funds,” she said. “So we hope that the people will look for our donation boxes and enter some of the contests. We want everyone to have a wonderful time, but to remember we are trying to raise funds for the big event in June.”

Best said it has been a challenge to plan another big event so close to the June event, but she has a committee of 13 that she appreciates. She also thanks those who step forward to volunteer at the festival.

The setup for the festival is in the same area as Celebrate Poland but will feature a lot of fall-related contests.

“We have so many wonderful things planned,” Best said. “Of course bounce houses, food vendors and our marketplace craft show will take place. We also have a dog costume contest with prizes. This contest has a $10 registration fee as it is one of our fundraisers.”

She said the event also will have a pumpkin-decorating contest, Stiltz and Hoops with Brittney, decorate a cookie, the Great Poland Bake-off for children and adults (judged separately with the theme of Everything Apple), a parade led by Cinderella and Spider-Man, and the band Vegas playing at 3 p.m.

The Poland Historical Society will take part at the historical society tent near the village town hall. It will offer walking tours of historical South Main Street.

In the parade that starts at 4 p.m., children will be encouraged to dress up and take part.