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Dunking booth makes debut at Fenwick Fest

Rides, raffles, food and fun awaits visitors

Peter Grant, 16, and Joey Robertson, 16, set up the mug shot game for the Fenwick Festival on Wednesday, June 24, on the grounds of Fenwick High School in Middletown. The three-day festival runs from Friday, June 26, through Sunday, June 28.

Staff photo by Nick Graham Peter Grant, 16, and Joey Robertson, 16, set up the mug shot game for the Fenwick Festival on Wednesday, June 24, on the grounds of Fenwick High School in Middletown. The three-day festival runs from Friday, June 26, through Sunday, June 28.

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Photos: Setup begins for Fenwick Festival

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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer Updated 10:49 AM Thursday, June 25, 2009

With temperatures expected to sizzle around the 90-degree mark this weekend, a new attraction at the Fenwick Festival might turn out to be quite popular: a dunking booth.

Actually, the dunking booth is not exactly new, it’s just new to the Fenwick Festival, now celebrating its 57th year, said Ed Dobrozsi, a longtime festival volunteer. The festival runs Friday, June 26, through Sunday on school grounds.

The booth originally was built for Middletown’s former Independence Day festival All American Weekend, by one of its longtime supporters, Woody Withrow. With the help of Cohen Brothers Inc., the dunking booth is being rebuilt.

“It will be up all three days so people can dunk teachers, coaches and students. It’s ready to go this year,” Dobrozsi said.

The Fenwick Festival has a large raffle every year, and this year the grand prize is a 1966 Dodge Coronet Convertible.

Tickets for the raffle are $50 each. Ten winners will be announced, each of whom will get a key. The person who has the key that starts the engine gets the car; everyone else gets $500 each.

There also is a smaller raffle, costing $25 for two or $15 for one ticket, for which the prize is a six-person hot tub or $5,000 cash.

Specialty food items available only on certain days include Italian sausage sandwiches on Friday, pulled pork sandwiches on Saturday, and the Sons of Italy Spaghetti Dinner on Sunday. Friday night entertainment will be the band Farewell Fisher, featuring Fenwick alumni.

The most popular draw at the Fenwick Festival may be the festival-goers themselves.

“Saturday night it seems like a lot of the alumni come. It’s like a reunion, You get people who graduated from Middletown and Fenwick and the festival will be the first time they’ve seen (each other) from last year,” Dobrozsi said.

After the festival is over, it won’t be long before there is no trace of it.

“On Monday at 5 p.m., the cleaning will be done and we’ll be out of here. It’s something we pride ourselves on,” Dobrozsi said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.