Special Events

Festivals, baseball, and garden tours on weekend lineup

8/15/2013

The 2013 Swanton Corn Festival will take place from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. The festival will feature a parade, 5K run, horseshoe and volleyball competitions, 3-on-3 basketball and corn hole tournaments, a talent show, and rides. The parade begins at 10:30 a.m. Merchants and vendors will sell food and crafts. Admission into the tent is free from noon to 4 p.m. and $5 after. Live music and entertainers include Danny Rose, a fire spinner, the Swanton Rec Cheerleaders, Bekah Bradley, and others. Cincinnati cover band the Websters will headline the entertainment starting at 7 p.m. The concert will be in the beer tent and is included in the $5 cover charge. The rest of the festival is free. Parking is $2. Information: swantoncornfest.com.

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The tree-lined streets of Maumee will overflow with people during the 36th annual Maumee Summer Fair. Friday evening kicks off the festivities with the the Taste of Maumee featuring up to 15 local restaurants, a Kid's Fun Zone, and live bands at the Lot Party for the 21 and older crowd. A parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with the Maumee High School marching band leading the way, followed by dance groups, classic cars, wild imaginative floats, singers, pets, and costumed children on bikes. There will be arts and crafts booths, a kids' area, and an area for dogs. Admission to the Lot Party is $5. There are no admission charges for the fair and food festival. Information: maumeeuptown.com.

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The Sylvania Great Black Swamp Frogs will take on the Wyandotte Stars of Wyandotte, Mich., in an 1860s-style baseball game at Wildwood Preserve Metropark on Sunday. The first pitch will be thrown at 2 p.m. and the event is free.

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Magyar Gardin will host free tours of this 10-acre East Toledo community garden from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Just off Front Street at 2353 York St., it has 37 distinctly different plots, six bee hives, an insect hotel, and a greenhouse. There will be demonstrations of methods for growing potatoes and lasagna-style gardening. A children's activity table will have microscopes for examining bugs and coloring. Among the gardens are vegetables, dahlias, herbs, rain, grapes and berries, and fruit. Plants in the monarch butterfly way station include common and swamp milkweed, butterfly weed, and Indian blanket.

Tours will be on-your-own or by request from one of the Magyar gardeners. Garden plots are available and there is an information kiosk at the pedestrian entrance on York Street. Refreshments, gardening information, and giveaways, including seed packets, will be offered. Information: 419-578-6783.

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A walking tour of gardens at the Toledo Zoo will be 10:30 a.m. to noon Aug. 21. The focus will be on water gardens, including hardy and nonhardy plants, maintenance, pumps, filtration, and containers. Another tour will be 9:30 to 11 a.m. Sept. 18, with an emphasis on unusual trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals that suggest Africa's landscape. Tours meet at the conservatory and are included in the price of admission. Information: 419-385-5721.