Event celebrates village's 135th anniversary

Midvale will celebrate its 135th anniversary at the Midvale Miners Jubilee Sept. 6-8 at the Midvale Community Park. It’s the second year for the festival, which was named in honor of the Midvale Lions Jubilee that was held in the village for many years and the Midvale Miners Festival that was held in more recent years.

The festival turned out to be something the village needed and enjoyed.

“Last year went really great. We did much better than we thought we would — had lots of sponsors, lots of activity, lots of people — so we were very happy,” said Randy Cadle, a member of the festival committee.

In addition to Cadle, the committee includes Donna Cadle, William L. Weaver, Mark and Vicki Bassett, Stephenie Wilson, Rod and Candy Wilson, Larry and Lynette Kopp, and Brenda Stafford.

There will be a display of historical items at the community building at the park. The village was founded in 1889, though it was platted in 1888. The town was named Midvale because it was midway between Uhrichsville and New Philadelphia.

“We always do our school display because people love those old yearbooks and things, but we want to feature some things about the town, and we’ll have some mining things on display also,” said Candy Wilson, a member of the festival committee. “We have some new pictures and things we’re going to be doing too.”

They also will auction wooden plates featuring an old image of the town on the plate made by Dan Warther. Commemorative wooden Christmas ornaments also will be for sale.

The Minding Midvale’s History group also launched a project to hang banners in the village honoring those who served in Midvale. Information will be available at the festival for anyone who would like to purchase a banner for someone who served and was affiliated with Midvale or the surrounding area through attending school or working in a mine. There are 10 banners currently in the village, and they would like to get more placed in the spring in time for Memorial Day.

There were some favorite events last year.

“People really liked the bands, and the car show was very popular. And the Powerslam Pro Wrestling people, they really seemed to like,” Cadle said.

There will be one noticeable change to the festival.

“We’ve added more bands this year. Last year we thought we had a lot of downtime, so we added two more bands to the lineup,” Cadle said. “Friday, we’re adding a band, and Saturday, we’re adding a band. So we’ll have two bands on Friday night, two on Saturday.”

Also new to the festival is a talent show sponsored by DoverPhila Credit Union. Prizes will be awarded to the top three participants. The show will be hosted by Marc Davis of New Philadelphia.

There will be spots for vendors who preregister at the Midvale Marketplace section of the festival. Food trucks will be available, and there also will be a food stand by the members of the Midvale Methodist Church.

In addition to the Midvale Methodist Church, food vendors for the festival include DiRusso’s Sausage, Pita Wagon, Kona Ice, Gingers Home Bakery, Bosler’s Honey, Mesdad’s Concessions, Pa & Grammie’s Ice Cream, and Zontini’s Wood Fired Pizza Oven.

The 2024 Midvale Miners Jubilee schedule is as follows:

—Friday, Sept. 6: Food vendors, beer garden and inflatables open at 4 p.m. and music by Alex Hursey begins, welcome by the mayor and auction of memorabilia at 6 p.m., and Badstone at 8 p.m.

—Saturday, Sept. 7: The 5k race at 9 a.m., food vendors, beer garden and inflatables open at 11 a.m. and music by Smalls Smalley, Canal Dover Red Legs vintage base ball game at 1 p.m., registration begins for talent show at 1:30 p.m., talent show at 2 p.m., Kids Day activities from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., baked goods auction at 4 p.m., and LaFlavour at 7 p.m.

—Sunday, Sept. 8: Midvale Methodist Church service at 10 a.m., food vendors and inflatables open at 11 a.m., car show at 1 p.m., and Powerslam Pro Wrestling at 2 p.m.