KANOPOLIS — Fun, food and family will once again be at the forefront Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 13, during the annual Fort Harker Days celebration in Kanopolis.

Mayor Anthony Hopkins, who is also a member of the Fort Harker Days planning committee, said he is looking forward to the celebration.

“Every year it’s one of the best weekends in Kanopolis, I’d say,” Hopkins said. “It’s cool to see all the people that used to live here come back and see their family. It seems like the event has gotten a little bit bigger the last five or six years.

“We’ve got lots of good food vendors coming in this year, and I think we have around 75 or 76 arts and crafts and other type vendors coming in. That’s really grown a lot in the last three years. So yeah, it’s a lot of work to get ready for it. It’s kind of like herding cats at times. Luckily, Joye Neuman is really good at directing all of us on what we need to do. She takes on a lot of that herself.”

In addition to Hopkins and Neuman, other members of the Fort Harker Days Committee are Dustin Neuman, Kendra Ploutz, Greg Tripp, Tim Zamrzla and Meredith Vargo.

Hopkins believes there are a couple of reasons why Fort Harker Days continues to grow each year.

“The committee is pretty committed to trying to make the event better and better every year,” he said. “Two, we’ve got a lot of good sponsors that sponsor every year. It seems like we keep finding more people that want to be involved with the event one way or another.”

Hopkins said the side-by-side poker run conducted by the Kanopolis Fire Department also brings a lot of people into the community.

“Between all those three things, it just seems like it keeps growing,” he said. “I get a lot of compliments from people saying it’s so laid back. I don’t know if there is a secret sauce necessarily, other than having an event where friends and family and kids can all have a good time.”

Hopkins said beginning Thursday and Friday night, it’s cool to begin seeing all of the out-of-county license tags on vehicles parked in front of houses throughout Kanopolis, and people trying to get their schedule figured out.

“We’re such a little town, but it seems like the families are always quite large,” he added.

And with all the traditional Fort Harker Days standards available once again this year — the sand volleyball tournament, Ellsworth County Historical Society hamburger feed, the parade, the turtle races, covered wagon races and much more — it promises to be a fun weekend.

“I don’t know that we have anything new this year, other than the crafts vendors keep growing,” Hopkins said. “So it will be interesting to see the new vendors that come for that.”

This year, additional space may be made available outside of the park to accommodate the large number of vendors expected.

“We try to keep everyone in the actual (Kanopolis City) park,” Hopkins said, “but this year, it’s looking like we’re going to have to block off a road to make room for a couple of the vendors. It’s one of those things. We don’t want to tell anybody no, but I think we might be getting to the point of being at full capacity.”

Hopkins said the turtle races, sand volleyball and the covered wagon races are among the most popular events each year during Fort Harker Days.

“It (the turtle races) is a big deal,” he said. “From my understanding, they’ve been going on for quite some time. Sand volleyball is a staple of Fort Harker Days. And then, obviously, the wagon races. I would say those are the three anchors of the week.”

Hopkins said he personally enjoys watching the sand volleyball tournament.

“I know it doesn’t have quite as many teams as it used to have, but it’s fun to watch,” he said. “I enjoy the Friday night washer board tournament. It’s hard to say what may favorite is. There’s so much to do, and all of it is a nice taste of the event.”

Kenny Bernard is the grand marshal of Saturday’s Fort Harker Days parade.

“He’s been a part of the community for a long time,” Hopkins said. “He’s been in law enforcement.

He served as Kanopolis Police chief; I believe he did two or three tours on that. With Murray (Marston, current Ellsworth County Sheriff ) not running, we’re excited to see that Kenny is running. Kenny has always been a great part of our community.

He’s always willing to lend a hand. He’s a good neighbor and a good person.

He’s a great guy and I’m happy he was selected. I can’t think of anyone that probably would be a better fit for this year.”

Fort Harker Days will wrap up Saturday night with the presentation of the Kanopolis Volunteer of the Year Award.

“Little towns kind of depend on volunteers, and Kanopolis is certainly one of them,” Hopkins said.

“We’re pretty good at keeping it a secret, but it’s always fun to see the surprised look on someone’s face when they’re selected or their group is selected.”

Hopkins said he hopes to keep more people wanting to become volunteers in the community.

“Kanopolis is slowly growing with younger families,” he said, “and we’d like to get some more of the younger people involved, because some of our older volunteers have been an anchor for a long time and that will take some of the weight off of them.”

Anthony Hopkins

Kanopolis Mayor