57th annual Cheese Days coming to Colby this weekend

Colby Cheese Days is back and better than ever as the city will not only be honoring its annual tradition of Cheese Days, but will also be celebrating the city’s 150th anniversary.

The event will hold all of its usual attractions while adding some historically significant twists to the weekend.

The weekend kicks off on Thursday with a book and movie sale hosted by the Colby Community Library at the Colby Lions Shelter. The sale will run Thursday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Friday kicks off at 5 p.m. as the food stands open with the AbbyColby Crossings Chamber of Commerce beer stand opening at 6 p.m. Food stands include:

n Colby Choir Parents - smoothies, ice cream shakes, frappes, lemonade and beef sticks.

n Colby Cub/Boy Scout Pack 383 - French fries, cheese fries and chili fries.

n Cherokee Chums - soda.

n Colby VFW - Famous charcoal chicken. n St. Mary’s Catholic Church - Burgers, mushroom/ swiss burgers, brats, hot dogs and root beer floats.

n Zion Lutheran Church - Famous cheese curds, corn dogs, chicken strips, deep fried pickles and onion rings.

Tri-State Entertainment will be providing carnival games and amusement rides all weekend. On Friday, the midway will be open from 6 - 10 p.m.

The annual softball tournament will be held at the Colby softball fields with games beginning at 6:30 on Friday evening. Games will begin at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. The championship game will be played on Sunday afternoon. Food and beverages will be available at the softball complex.

Friday evening will also have ATV, garden tractor and UTV pulls beginning at 6 p.m. on First Street with registration beginning at 4 p.m. The pulls will run tentatively until 9 p.m. and are sponsored by the Central Wisconsin Pullers.

Lions Club bingo begins at 7 p.m. on Friday night and live music will be provided by “Hyde” from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Kicking off a big Saturday is the Colby Cheese Days race - Run for Jamison. Registration will run from 7 - 8:15 a.m. with the Jamison Kampmeyer Memorial Mile at 8:15 a.m. The kids one mile race will be run at the same time as the Memorial Mile and a 10K and 5K race will begin at 8:45 a.m. Proceeds from the race go to the Wisconsin State Firefighter Memorial. More about the race can be found at www.colbycheesedaysrace.com.

The Cheese Days volleyball tournament will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday at South Sixth Street Park. The tournament will be a double elimination format and will feature 16 teams.

Also at 10 a.m. is the bench press contest which is sponsored by Benz Fitness Center. Also at 10 a.m. is the registration for the car show and pedal pull. The running of the pedal pull will commence at 11 a.m. and the car show will run from noon to 3:30 p.m. Food stands will open at 11 a.m. on Saturday and the chamber beer stand will open at noon. The midway will also open at noon on Saturday.

The Lions Club bingo tent will be rocking starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Also at 1 p.m., the Pin-up contest will begin as car show participants dress from the era that their cars are from.

An ode to the City of Colby’s 150th anniversary will be had on Saturday afternoon as a beard, mustache and mullet contest will feature some of the area’s most follicly gifted individuals.

The car show awards and pinup contest awards will be held at 3:30 p.m. Live music on Saturday night will be performed by “The Dweebs.”

A packed Sunday full of events starts with the weigh-in for the tractor pull which runs from 10 a.m. - noon. Lineup for the parade will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Colby High School parking lot. The parade will travel down Second Street once again in Colby and will have a theme of 150 years. The parade will begin at noon. The food stands will open at 11 a.m. on Sunday and the beer stand will open at noon.

The VFW famous charcoal chicken dinner will be held starting at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The midway will also open at noon on Sunday.

After the parade, the Colby Show Choir will perform on Spence Street and the University of Wisconsin marching band will perform “Echoes of Camp Randall” on the pulling track.

Bingo will open up at 1 p.m. and the tractor pull will begin around 1 p.m. or after the band concert.

The world championship cheese curd throw will begin at 3 p.m. Awards for first place will be handed out to multiple age groups for male and female categories.

A DJ will provide music from 6 - 10 p.m. Sunday evening First United Church of Christ will also be serving hot beef, hot pork, chili, pie and ice cream from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday at the corner of Second and Clark Street.

T-shirts will be sold throughout the weekend at the beer tent commemorating 150 years of Colby. The Rural Arts Museum will be open to the public from noon - 4 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday with Badger Blacksmith Demonstrations and hay wagon rides.