2025 Sunfield Farmers Picnic Brought Fun for All Ages

The Sunfield Farmers Picnic kicked off on Friday, August 15, with a half chicken dinner cooked by High’s Rotary Grill and sponsored by the Sunfield United Brethren Church. The 2024 Princess Cecelia Salazar crowned the 2025 Princess Aurora McDiarmid, daughter of Samantha Gonsalves & Neil McDiarmid.  Reid Bowen was crowned the 2025 Prince, son of Adrian Bowen & Hannah Louthan.  Their Royal Court includes Logan Woodman, Calla Shepard, Tucker Ridenour, Dixie Gibbs, Malakai Vasquez and Sage Ridenour. Each child was all smiles to receive a big bag of surprises and a T-shirt commemorating the event.

The Sunfield Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY's) President Craig Cappon awarded Outstanding Achievement Awards to James Bell for digitizing the Sunfield Sentinel newspapers; Violet Davis for helping Hanna's Meats during deer season to process venison for Manna's Market and Stacey Desgranges for securing grant money for the Sunfield Community Room and the Sunfield District Library.  Eight military veterans were honored with a Quilt of Valor for their service.  The Quilts of Valor Foundation began in 2003 with a dream, literally a dream. Awarding its first Quilt of Valor in November 2003 at Walter Reed Medical Center. Recipients included (first name only) Vietnam Veteran Larry, served 1964-1966, Vietnam Veteran Larry, served 1965-1971, Vietnam Veteran Jacob, served 1966-1968, Vietnam Veteran Terry, served 1969-1971, Vietnam Veteran Craig, served 1969-1971, Vietnam Veteran Grant, served 1970-1973; 1982-1987 and 1988-2000, Marine Veteran Jeff, served 1986-2011 and Navy Veteran Aaron, served 1996-2002.

Children of all ages had fun with Cook Family Farm Peddle Pull, sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, where the winners were Brooks Cole who pulled 38 1/4 inches for first place and Sophie Cole who pulled 33 1/4 inches for second place in the 3 & 4 year old age group.  Lucas Coffman did two full pulls for first place, Tucker Ridenour did a full pull and 25 1/4" for second place and Rowan Tucker pulled 14 1/4: third place in the 7 & 8 year old age group.  Zeppelin Jones did three full pulls for first place, Alex McCoy did a full pull and 46 inches for second place and Miles McCoy did a full pull and 45 inches for third place in the 9 & 10 year old age group.  Each child received a participation ribbon.  The grand marshal reception honoring Robert “Bob” Sandborn concluded the evening’s honors with stories, followed by cake and punch.

On Saturday, the Grand Parade kicked off at noon, themed “A Blessed Village” and honoring Grand Marshal Robert “Bob” Sandborn.  Eaton County Sheriff Deputy Troy Hansbarger followed two fire trucks from the Sunfield Fire District, Melvin and Monya Wortley in his wagonette and Deb Eckman and Karen Hathon in the Meadowbrook cart carried the American flag and other important flags (all are former members of the Mid-Michigan Mounted Color Guard who participated as individuals). Floats included the 2025 Prince Reid Bowen and Princess Aurora McDiarmid and their royal court, the Vermontville Maple Syrup Festival Queen Madison Trowbridge and her royal court Izabelle Racine, Kaydence Harvey and Shannon Kistler along with the Ionia Free Fair Queen Sophia Schrauben and royal court Rylee Miller and Madi Crowley, Sunfield District Library’s summer reading program “Reading Colors Our World” float, Daughters of the Union Veteran, and the Lakewood Marching Band were present and sounded great.  There were dozens of antique cars and trucks, a motorcycle, antique tractors and fire engines from Campbell Township, Berlin-Orange Twps. and Vermontville Twp. Fire Departments. Children lining the Village streets scooped up lots of candy.

The sixth Classic Car, Truck, Tractor & Bike Show organized by Paul Campbell and Charlotte Cruisers took place on Main Street with 92 registered vehicles and well over 100 vehicles on display.  The 2018 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, a tribute car to Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, owned by Empire Motors in Lansing was brought to Sunfield by Isabella Ieremias. Hotdogs, chips and water were available for a donation which was then split between the Sunfield Fireman’s Auxillary and the Kaleb Klotz Family. Trophies were designed and made by Ron Kruger of Sunfield. John Higgins won for the Custom Paint job on his 1941 Ford. Bid Hope of Mason won Best of Show for his 1963 Chevy truck and James Thompson of Sunfield won People's Choice for his 1973 Chevy LT-Type Camaro (502).

The eighth annual Dylan Kemp Home Run Derby had 11 entries. First place in the homerun derby is Austyn Dawe. “He hit some serious rockets!” said organizer Craig Cappon.  Second place in the homerun derby is Jason Dickinson  The SPY’s Men’s Softball Tournament was postponed due to the rain storm that came through Sunfield around 5:30 p.m.

The annual William Bosworth Memorial Horseshoe Tournament place with ­­Courtney Sutliff and team mate taking first place. George Sutliff and Brian Patrick placed second and Kara Feehan and Kevin Sweet placed third. In the eleventh annual float decorating contest, there were two entries.  The Sunfield District Library Reading Program “Reading Colors Our World” float took first place followed by the Daughters of the Union Veterans.

The Sunfield Sponsors of Programs for Youth (SPY’s) Dime Pitch booth, Daughters of the Union Veterans Pluck-a-Duck Pond and Doughnut Walk, Spin-To-Win game sponsored by Gizzy Downing and Mason Rail Time Adventures provided games and rides for children of all ages as well as BINGO for the adults provided by the Portland Area Service Group.  Ming the Magician entertained children of all ages under the Big Tent.  Marbles The Clown created balloon animals for the children.  Twenty-four crafters and/or independent vendors gave the attendees plenty to peruse and seven food vendors including Joe’s Gizzard Wagon, Lakewood Youth Wrestling, the Sunfield United Methodist Mint, Mitten Made Lemonade, Holland House Coffee Company, Sugar Babies Cotton Candy and Dodie’s Concession Elephant Ears and Lemonade took care of everyone’s enjoyment needs.

The eleventh annual Sunfield Farmers Picnic & Roundhead Cornhole Tournament got underway at 2 p.m. with a total of 19 teams participating.  Roundhead Cornhole says "Thank you everyone for joining us yesterday!! We had a great time at the Sunfield Farmers Picnic Inc."  Tier 1 Division Winners are 1st Place - Keeping it friendly (Charlie Vanarsdal & Dan Scholten), 2nd Place - Team Name (Caleb Beltran & Brady Phelps), and 3rd - T & T Cornhole  (Mike Prince & Deej Williams).  Tier 2 Division Winners are 1st Place – Wolverine (Seth Stein & Jordan Porter), 2nd Place - Edick Farms (Michael Edick & partner) and 3rd Place - Grease Monkeys (Jerry Sandborn & partner).

The Open Class Craft exhibit awarded 7 Best of Show ribbons to Cynthia Bailey's crocheted Chicken handbag, Patty Weller's lighted carved gourd, Jackie Mulholland's black & batiks quilt, Lance Eldridge's Animal photo of the wild horses at the Outer Banks, 'Other' category photo of a P-40 airplane and his Nature photo of the Cumberland Waterfall in Tennessee and Doug Shilton's scroll saw wood carving of 2 pistols over cowboy boots.  There were 75 items exhibited by 33 participants with 13 being first time participants. The youngest exhibitor was 4 up through 83 years of age.  Photography was judged in 4 categories: People, Animals, Nature and Other.  Entries in other categories were in: Woodworking, flowers, baked goods, canned goods, art, craft, painting, garden produce, crocheting,  sewing, quilts, kid’s crafts and vendor entries including four categories that haven’t been seen in many years such as baskets, paper craft, carving and latch rug and a new category of metal craft.

The Frog Jumping Contest had two categories this year, those that collected and brought their own frog and those that used frogs from the communities’ bucket that were collected by Stephanie Brummette.  There were 28 children participating in the frog jumping contest; 10 children brought their own frog.  Maverick Hough had the largest frog and Levi had the smallest frog.  The Best Named frog was chosen by the Grand Marshal Robert “Bob” Sandborn and was awarded to RJ for “Bob”.  Winners for those who brought their own frogs included Quinn Brummette with a total of 96 inches jumped by her frog; Levi at 76 ¾ inches and Maverick Hough at 68 inches.  Winners for those who borrowed frogs from the community collection included Jax V. with a total of 173 inches jumped by his frog, Waylyn at 123 inches and Ava at 111 inches.

The beloved Ox Roast sandwiches sold out quickly and just before a heavy rainstorm went through. The Sunfield Farmers Picnic 2025 Merchants Raffle third place prize of a six foot bench donated by Polly Products in Mulliken was won by Melanie Daler, second place prize of an overnight stay for two at one of Bill Rogers accommodations in Lake Odessa, MI was won by Brittni Brummette and Mapes Furniture donated an electric love seat/recliner/rocker that was won by Jill Simons.  There were additional prize packages that were awarded throughout the concert of the Papa Clutch band who sang and entertained the audience for nearly two and a half hours.  The evening closed out with the playing of the National Anthem and 7.5 minutes of non-stop kick-butt pyro by Pyrotecnico.

This was the 54th Annual SPYs Softball Tournament.  Both divisions played round robin, then single elimination tournaments. There were eight men’s teams and six co-ed teams.  Most Valuable Player was awarded to ­­Jayna Pohl and Chase Senters.  Due to the weather, the Saturday Men’s Tournament games were called off.  The Coed Tournament was played on Sunday and found Aftermath, the first place team with players Ryan Kowalcyk, Krystal Hernandez, Alyssa Spangler, Kacie Owen, Jeralee Huntoon, Sarah Kowalczyk, Hunter Wilson, Adan Ruiz, CJ Swift, Chase Senters, Chaz Arizola, Austyn Dawe, David Arizola and Shane Arizola and All Nighters the second place team with Andi Chipman, Alexis Martin, Jamie Theisen, Jayna Pohl, Amber Smith, Markelle Strong, James Hyatt, Abe Thomas, Ashton Pfeifer, Schad Bartlet, Logan Brown, Derek Brown, Jason Dickinson and Travis Shattuck.

There were many volunteers in addition to the members of the Board that helped make this event a memorable one but additional committed individuals would help make lighter work for this successful community event. Please contact the Board at sunfieldfarmerspicnic@gmail.com to offer any future assistance, ideas or to find out more about the event scheduled for August 14-16, 2026.  Visit the Sunfield Farmers Picnic Inc Facebook page to see ALL the photos.

Photos Captions:

Photo 1: (2025 Prince Reid Bowen & Princess Aurora McDiarmid with 2024 Princess Cecelia Salazar)  2024 Princess Cecelia Salazar crowned the 2025 Princess Aurora McDiarmid after Reid Bowen was crowned the 2025 Prince. (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 2: (20250815 Grand Marshal Robert 'Bob' Sandborn) Robert "Bob" Sandborn was proud to be honored as the 2025 Grand Marshal. (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 3 is contained in Email #3 as Photo 20: (20250816 (21) Frog Jump Contest - Own - 1st Quinn Brummette, 2nd Levi, _, Waylyn 2nd place borrowed & own 3rd Maverick Hough) Those who brought their own frog to the frog jump were Quinn Brummette (1st place), Levi (2nd place) and Maverick Hough (3rd place - in orange shirt) and those borrowing community frogs Jax V. (1st place) and Waylyn (2nd place).(photo provided by Rod Clark)

Photo 4: (20250816 7 Best of Show Open Class Craft winners) Seven Best of Show Ribbons were awarded at the Open Class Craft exhibit. (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 5: (20250816 Reading Colors Our World (Mary Simmons, Abraham Hughes, Alyssa Josselyn, Steven Josselyn)  The float from the Sunfield District Library's summer reading program "Reading Colors Our World" won the float decorating contest.  On board is Mary Simmons, Abraham Hughes, Alyssa Josselyn and Steven Josselyn. (photo provided by DeAnna Clark)

Photo 6: (20250816 Car Show Awards made by Ron Kruger).  Sunfield resident Ron Kurger designed and made the awards for the sixth annual Classic Car, Truck, Tractor & Bike Show. (photo provided by Rod Clark)

Photo 7: (20250815 (1) 3 & 4 yr olds-Brooks Cole pulled 38.25 in. for 1st and Sophie Cole pulled 33.25 in. for 2nd) 3 & 4 yr olds- Twins Brooks Cole pulled 38.25 in. for 1st and Sophie Cole pulled 33.25 in. for 2nd (photo provided by Dustin Cook)

Photo 8: (20250815 (2) 7 & 8 yr olds-Lucas Coffman-two full pulls 1st, Tucker Ridenour-a full pull&25.25 in 2nd & Rowan Tucker pulled 14.25 in 3rd)  7 & 8 yr olds-Lucas Coffman-two full pulls 1st, Tucker Ridenour-a full pull&25.25 in 2nd & Rowan Tucker pulled 14.25 in 3rd (photo provided by Dustin Cook)

Photo 9: (20250815 (3) 9 & 10 yr olds-Zeppelin Jones-3 full pulls 1st, Alex McCoy-a full pull&46 in. 2nd & Miles McCoy-a full pull&45 in.3rd) 9 & 10 yr olds-Zeppelin Jones-3 full pulls 1st, Alex McCoy-a full pull&46 in. 2nd & Miles McCoy-a full pull&45 in. 3rd

 (photo provided by Dustin Cook)

Photo 10: (20250816 (55) John Higgins won for his custom Paint job on the 1941 Ford) John Higgins won for his custom Paint job on the 1941 Ford (photo provided by Paul Campbell)

Photo 11: (20250816 (57) Bid Hope of Mason won Best of Show for his 1963 Chevy truck) Bid Hope of Mason won Best of Show for his 1963 Chevy truck (photo provided by Dustin Cook)

Photo 12: (20250816 (59) James Thompson of Sunfield won People's Choice for his 1973 Chevy LT-Type Camaro (502)) James Thompson of Sunfield won People's Choice for his 1973 Chevy LT-Type Camaro (502) (photo provided by Dustin Cook)

Photo 13: (20250816 (53) Kobe and Gianna Bryant tribute Car owned by Empire Motors of Lansing) The Kobe and Gianna Bryant tribute car owned by Empire Motors of Lansing appeared at the car show on Main Street. (photo provided by Dustin CookJohn Fisher)

Photo 14: (Tier 1 1st Place Keeping it Friendly (Charlie Vanarsdal & Dan Scholten)) Tier 1 1st Place Keeping it Friendly team of Charlie Vanarsdal & Dan Scholten (photo provided by Amy Morris)

Photo 15: (Tier 2 1st Place Wolverine (Seth Stein & Jordan Porter)) Tier 2 1st Place Wolverine team of Seth Stein & Jordan Porter (photo provided by Amy Morris)

Photo 16: (20250816 (1) First place in the homerun derby is Austyn Dawe. He hit some serious rockets! (photo provided by Shana Cappon)) First place in the Dylan Kemp Homerun Derby is Austyn Dawe. He hit some serious rockets! (photo provided by Shana Cappon)

Photo 17: (20C311-1.JPG) First Place Coed Tournament Team Aftermath with Front Ryan Kowalcyk, Middle: Krystal Hernandez, Alyssa Spangler, Kacie Owen, Jeralee Huntoon, Sarah Kowalczyk,  Back: Hunter Wilson, Adan Ruiz, CJ Swift, Chase Senters, Chaz Arizola, Austyn  Dawes, David & Shane Arizola

Photo 18: (20250817 MVP's Chase senters and Jayna Pohl with Craig Cappon (photo provided by Shana Cappon)) MVP's Chase Senters and Jayna Pohl with Craig Cappon (photo provided by Shana Cappon)

Photo 19: (20250816 William Bosworth Memorial Horseshoe Tournament 1st Courtney Sutliff (photo provided by Randy Sheperd) William Bosworth Memorial Horseshoe Tournament 1st Courtney Sutliff (photo provided by Randy Sheperd)