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Crowds ready to rock at Great Miami River Days

This year’s festival features 9/11 tributes and plenty of new entertainment.

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By Hannah Poturalski, Staff Writer Updated 8:44 AM Tuesday, September 7, 2010

HAMILTON — Flying motorcycles, 50-person pyramids, and a pinball machine so tall you’ve got to crank your neck to play it — sounds pretty standard for the Great Miami River Days Festival.

This year’s festival boasts entertainment never before seen at the annual event.

The festival, which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, will have a 1 p.m. tribute to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, said Tony Traub, chairman of the Great Miami River Days committee. Team Fastrax Ski-Diving will perform at the tribute, and Miss Hamilton will sing the national anthem.

Another 9/11 tribute will be held at 9 a.m. Saturday beside the Firefighters Memorial Statue at the Fitton Center for the Creative Arts, this one hosted by the Butler County Fire Service.

Also new this year is a display Sunday, Aug. 12, of motorcycle tricks by Team FMX East. The team, sponsored by Jeff Pohlman Tires, will do stunts and flips off ramps.

Festival visitors can look forward to a show by the Badgerland Water Ski Team as it attempts to break into “Guinness World Records” by pulling 50 skiers with one boat. Other water entertainment will include a show by jet-ski team Typhoon Tommy.

New to the kid’s area will be what’s billed as the world’s largest pinball machine, standing 28 feet tall.

Music? Mostly bluegrass, committee member Sherry Hoskins said. A beer garden will be near the stage where seven bluegrass and country bands play. The headliner is Kings Landing from Dayton. The country band will get started at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Typically, the festival draws 50,000 to 60,000 people, but Traub anticipates closer to 80,000 this year.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or hpoturalski@coxohio.com.

Great Miami River Days  Festival

When: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 12
Where: Along Neilan Boulevard, overlooking the Great Miami River in Hamilton.
More info: www.great  miamiriverdays.org

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