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The Fredonia Farm Festival wants to make a big splash this weekend for its 50th anniversary event.

“We tried to go over the top this year because it’s the 50th,” said Mark Mackey, festival chairman, earlier this week. “We might have succeeded, we might not have. We’ll see how the weekend works out.”

One way to get noticed is to try some new things — and the festival will do so this year. But Mackey stressed they are looking to the past for inspiration.

“What we’re trying to do, it being the 50th year, is incorporate the stuff that was in previous years. Cornhole harks back to horeshoes,” he said. The new cornhole tournament will be 1 p.m. Saturday on Day Street. Registration forms for the free event can be found at the Farm Festival website, www.fredoniafarmfestival.com.

Another old-school addition is a “Bakewalk.” Also at 1 p.m. Saturday, but at the gazebo, the event is similar to musical chairs, Mackey said. Participants walk in a circle with numbers on it until they stop the music, and a number is drawn from a hat. The person standing on the number drawn wins a baked good.

The Family Sing-Along, set for 2 p.m. Saturday at the gazebo with Kay Barlow, is yet another addition this year. “We thought that would be something neat for the little kids to enjoy,” Mackey said.

The vendors’ booths and the farmers’ market — the attractions traditionally at the heart of the Farm Festival — will all be in place Friday through Sunday. Live music on Friday and Saturday and the Sunday parade will return too, of course, and Mackey said they are also getting a boost this year.

“I believe this is the largest parade we’ve ever had,” he said. As for the music, Mackey talked up the main attraction: “We’re proud to have Ruthie Collins … she’s a hometown girl,” he said, calling her the most well-known musical act ever to play the Farm Festival. The country music star, who is indeed a Fredonia native, performs at the gazebo at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday after the 7 p.m. show of the opening act, country singer/songwriter Coston Criss.

This year’s grand marshal is Caroline Wood, 92. Born in Dunkirk, Wood was raised in a Fredonia home that has been in the Wood family since 1887. She is a graduate of Fredonia High School, Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and State University of New York at Fredonia with a Master of Science degree. She taught in the Fredonia Central school system from 1959 until her retirement in 1981, and she still operates a farm with 36 acres of grapes.

Mackey said she was chosen grand marshal because of her long association with Fredonia Grange No. 1, which has administered the festival since 2016. Wood has been a member for 80 years and was a member of the Junior Grange before that. She will be at the opening ceremony and will ride in the parade.

Though the official days for the festival are Friday through Sunday, the festivities actually begin Thursday at dusk with the free movie event featuring “Coco” in Barker Commons. (Rain location will be in the Fredonia Grange, 58 W. Main St.)

The grand opening ceremony will be Friday at noon in the gazebo. The children’s tractor pull and firefighters’ hose race are also set for Friday.

Saturday will see an organ grinder and monkey roaming the commons in the morning, with a dog show starting at 11 a.m. In the afternoon, the schedule is packed with things such as a hula hoop contest and an event for kids at Sparky’s House of Safety.

Here is a full list of events for the Farm Festival:

Friday

Noon – Farmer’s Market

Noon – Grand Opening Ceremony (Gazebo)

Noon-Dusk – Vendors in the Parks

3:30-5:30 p.m. – Rustic Ramblers (Main Stage)

6 p.m. – Children’s Tractor Pull (Church St.)

6 p.m. – Hose Race (Center St.)

7-10 p.m. – Terry Buchwald (Main Stage)

Saturday

9 am.. – Farmer’s Market

9 a.m.-Dusk – Vendors in the Parks

10 a.m.-noon – Organ Grinder & Monkey roaming the Parks

11 a.m.-5 p.m. – Local Music Groups on Main Stage (45-60 minute sets)

11 a.m.-1 p.m. – Children’s Pet Show (Near Park Place in Park)

Noon-2 p.m. – Live Remote with Dan Palmer from WDOE (Near Gazebo)

1-5 p.m. – Sparky (Church St.)

1-5 p.m. – Power Wheel Obstacle Course & Masonic Lodge Safety ID Badge (Day St.)

1-3 p.m. – Cornhole Tournament (Day St.)

1 p.m. – Bakewalk (Gazebo)

2 p.m. – Family Sing Along with Kay Barlow (Gazebo)

3 p.m. – Hula Hoop Contest (Church St.)

7-8:30 p.m. – Coston Cross (Main Stage)

8:30-10 p.m. – Ruthie Collins (Main Stage)

Sunday

9 a.m. – Farmer’s Market

9 a.m. – Church Service in the Park by First United Methodist Church (Gazebo)

9 a.m.-6 p.m. – Vendors in the Park

Noon-4 p.m. – Antique Car Show (Church & Park Streets)

1 p.m. – 50th Annual Grand Parade (Down Temple, start at Risley to Main)

3 p.m. – Family Sing Along with Kay Barlow (Lil’ Farmers Exhibit)

3-6 p.m. – The Skiffle Minstrels (Main Stage)