Get Ready For Rapids River Days In Sauk Rapids This June

SAUK RAPIDS (WJON News) -- The 23rd annual Rapids River Days is coming up. The city festival will take place from Thursday, June 25th, to Saturday, June 27th.

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Thursday's Events

One of the first events is the Medallion Hunt. Festival Coordinator Marla Elness says you'll be able to start looking for that round metal medallion right away Thursday morning.

It's not going to be within 50 feet of water, it's not going to be down by the river or anything like that.  But it will be hidden, possibly inside something.  It could be in a facility, pick a park, pick a city area, but we will not be on private property.

The prize for finding the medallion is $500. This is the 6th year of the medallion hunt. Clues will be announced each day at 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on our sister station, 98.1 Minnesota's New Country.

Also on Thursday, June 25th, it's Rock the Riverside at The Clearing in Sauk Rapids. Seth Doud will perform at 5:30 p.m., and the band Mace starts at 7:00 p.m.

Since Rapids River Days began 23 years ago, the Miss Sauk Rapids Pageant has been a part of that tradition. Elness says they have 11 candidates this year, with one being named Miss Sauk Rapids and two others crowned as princesses.

So they will have a full year's reign.  They go places and do a lot of community service.  It's a great opportunity for these young candidates. It's very inspiring and friendship-oriented.

All of the candidates are going into their junior or senior year of high school. The Miss Sauk Rapids Pageant starts at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 25th, at the Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School.

Friday's events

Friday is the big parade.

We're excited, we have 10 invited marching bands from throughout the region, and we have over 80 units, so a full line-up of floats.

Parade Director Marie Popp says the parade will start at 6:00 p.m. near Pleasantview Elementary and travel down 6th Avenue.

Saturday's events

The big event on Saturday is the annual Rapids River Food Fest, which goes back 37 years. Elness says there's no shortage of food again this year.

Wonderful food, 25 plus food vendors, and they each have three to five different foods.  So, you can lose count of how much food is down there.  Come hungry.

Rapids River Food Fest runs from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Municipal Park. Live bands include Sawyer's Dream at 11:00 a.m., Thunder Road at 1:30 p.m., and Honey Badgers at 4:30 p.m.