FRENCH LICK — Alongside the smell of food and the view of carnival rides, the sound of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” filled the air at Orange County’s 58th annual Pumpkin Festival on Saturday afternoon.
Eight-year-old Izzy Jones sang the pop hit into the microphone, keeping her eyes focused on the crowd.
“You know you love me, I know you care. Just shout whenever, and I’ll be there,” Jones sang. Jones, who has been singing publicly since she was 6, joined the festival’s karaoke contest in the children’s category alongside seven other contestants.
She won first place, taking home $250 and a free ticket bracelet for the fair rides. “When I knew I won first place, I got really excited,” Jones said. “I really love to go sing at places where they have like people, like competition.
Dustin Farris, who has worked with the festival for about 45 years, said the goal is simple — “It’s all about the kids.”
The five-day festival in downtown French Lick was free to attend and featured bingo, raffles, live music, fair rides, food and vendors. It also offered support for families and children — this was the festival’s fifth year providing free ticket bracelets for children.
In Orange County, 13% of residents live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That is higher than the state’s 12% level and the national level of 10%.
“Coming to a carnival here is like a lot of kids going to Disney,” Farris said. “This is the only opportunity they get, so we try to help out as much as we can.”
The Matt C. Harris Foundation for Kids, an organization that supports children in French Lick and West Baden Springs, according to the organization’s website, helped make the free bracelets possible.
The foundation also offered free supplies for young families in partnership with the Indiana Diaper Bank. According to the foundation’s Facebook page, more than 300 free ticket bracelets and more than 3,000 diapers and other supplies were distributed.
Kendall Knight, a board member of the nonprofit Friends of Orange County Festivals Inc., said the festival helps bring back the traditional nostalgia of a small-town carnival.
“This is my hometown,” Knight said. “I like to come back and just see people I went to school with, my old high school teachers, coaches, players, things like that.”
Knight said the organization took over the festival three years ago and now has 12 members. Its main goal is expanding the event and adding more vendors.
Mindy Rogers, the organization’s president, said recent changes have drawn positive feedback.
Knight estimated at least 2,000 people had attended the festival by Saturday afternoon. More were expected throughout the weekend, with a parade planned for Sunday.
Through proceeds from bingo, raffle tickets, sponsorships and vendor fees, Friends of Orange County Festivals also awarded 12 scholarships to students.
Local resident Jacob Cook visited the festival Saturday with his wife and three children.
Cook recommended the festival to others, especially those with kids. “They just announced right before the karaoke contest that they were giving kids free bracelets,” Cook said. “And this is the first festival I’ve been to where they did that.”
Jones was one of the children who left with a bracelet that afternoon, although she earned hers on stage. She hopes to be a famous singer someday and has advice for other young performers: “Practice at home.”
On the day of a performance, Jones said, “Just look at your parents. Focus, and then you’ll get used to it, and then you can look around.”
Zoe Reed is a student reporter with the Indiana Newsroom, a learning lab designed to give Indiana University students practical experience in community journalism and provide news coverage to areas where reliable local news is limited or nonexistent. It is funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Bloomington & Monroe County and housed at The Media School in Bloomington.
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