Teapot Days 2009 has an event (or two) for nearly everyone. There is a new carnival, a new hot spot for food (The Tea Community Hall), a new parade route and plenty of returning favorites on the agenda.
The week’s activities begin in earnest with the crowning of Ma & Pa Teapot at the Tea Community Hall on Maple Street at 7 p.m. Thursday. The carnival rides begin that night on Main Street, as well.
Below, you’ll find information on each event that will take place over the next three days.

Carnival for kids
There’s a new carnival in town – one with its roots in Lennox and a manager with roots in Tea.
The Mighty Thomas Carnival was founded in Lennox in 1928 and moved to Texas in 1978. The fair, which will fill Tea’s downtown area with rides on Friday night and all day Saturday, is managed by former Tea resident Tom Atkins.
“My mother was born (in Tea) – I went to church there for 35 years,” Atkins said.
The new carnival, which Pick said was sought out due to negative comments from the public in previous years, will feature 15 rides and include a Tilt-O-Whirl and rides called “Cliffhanger,” and “Moby Dick,” a roller coaster and rides for kids. There will be 15 rides in all.
“That about all the street the street will handle,” Atkins said.
One called “Super Shot” is a drop that raises passengers 70 feet in the air and drops them back to earth in a free fall. The ride is 89 feet tall, Atkins said.
“They’ll be able to see it in Worthing,” he said.
The carnival will be set up on Thursday night and continue from noon until dusk on Friday and Saturday.

Parade
The Teapot Days Parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday. The parade route changed this year. The floats will be staged in the MS/HS parking lot. From the school, the route will head east on Brian Street to Main Street. The route then leads down South Main to Charish Street, west to Cole Avenue and then north to the high school.
“The route actually looks like its small than last year,” parade committee chairman Don McLeer said. “But last year it was 11 blocks and this year it’s 16.”
Float registration is 8-9:45 a.m. Saturday at the Tea Area High School.
McLeer said he expects 75-150 parade entries. The average is 100.
The parade usually last 45 minutes to an hour.

Tractor Pull
This is the last year for the tractor pull.
Tea Economic Development Director Jenni Pick said the current location will no longer be available to host the event.
The pull is at 6 p.m. Friday on the south end of Main Street.
The cost for adults 12 and older is $8; ages 4-11 $2; 3 and younger free; $25 per family. Registration is from 4-5:30 p.m.

Food Fair
This year’s food, which will be sold Friday night all day on Saturday during the carnival, offers plenty for the palate. Creative Concession Conceptions will be on hand to sell funnel cakes and frozen chocolate bananas. L.A. Foods will have Indian tacos, nachos and pork loin sandwiches. Bizzy Beez will sell cheese steaks, hot dogs, brats, tacos and nachos and The Smokin’ Hog has the barbeque fix with smoked beef, pork, ribs, beans and coleslaw.
Other vendors will be on hand to sell cheese curds, snow cones, roasted almonds, root beer floats and caramel apples.

5K Fun Run
Teapot Days participants who wish to jump start their metabolism on Saturday will once again be able to begin their day with a 5 kilometer road race.
The route for the fourth annual race, one that amounts to 3.1 miles, will take runners in a loop from St. Nicholas, through the city and back again.
Last year, there were 75 participants. Prizes are awarded to the men’s and women’s over all and age group winners. The age categories are 17 and younger, 18-25, 26-25, 26-35, 36-45, 45-55 and 55 and older.
The race costs $20. Registration begins at 7 a.m. The race starts at 8:30 a.m.

Mud Volleyball
For weekend warriors who wish to mix messiness with athleticism, there is mud volleyball once again. As the mud volleyball field is set to become part of a massive city park, this may be the last year that teams of 4-6 will gather at the south end of Main Avenue for the Tea Jaycees charity event.
There is a $60 per team sign in fee for the tournament, which is double elimination and awards cash prizes to the top three teams. The money raised through the sign-up fee goes towards the Jaycees, the winners and local charities. There is a $10 per cooler fee, money from which goes to the Tea Toros amateur baseball team.

Cowpie Bingo
Mud volleyball may be the messiest of the Teapot activities, but Cowpie Bingo is probably the goofiest.
Contestants lay claim to 1-foot squares of land for $5 a piece and cross their fingers in hopes that a single cow will drop a cow pie in one of their squares between 3-5 p.m. Saturday. The owner of the winning square gets $1,000.
About half of the 1,000 squares are sold already, organizer Karen Oberle said. The proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Tea Volunteer Fire Department. Organizers hope to raise enough money to help the department buy a sign for the fire hall on First Street.

Tea Lions Pork Feed/ Pancake Breakfast/ Pie and Ice Cream/Teapot Displays
The Lions Club will once again provide the public with the opportunity to chow down on pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans and coleslaw, but the location for feed has changed this year.
Just like the crowning of Ma and Pa Teapot and the pie and ice cream, the Lions pork feed will take place at the Tea Community Hall, located at 200 W. Maple St. Food will be available nearly al day at the Community Hall. The pancake breakfast runs in the morning, pie and ice cream is served in the afternoon and the pork loin feed runs from 5-7 p.m.
The pancake breakfast goes from 7-10 a.m. Saturday. The menu consists of pancakes, sausage, coffee, orange juice and milk.
Free will donations are accepted. All the proceeds will be used to help the reconstruction of the historical society’s 1937 four-dour sedan. The museum will be open to tour during the day.
The Community Hall, which also houses the Tea Area Historical Society Museum, will house the Teapot Days Teapot Display as well. Anyone interested in entering their own collectible teapot in the contest should call Connie Seim at 368-2097.

Craft/Art Fair
A craft and art fair will be set up from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. in the Tea City Park. Forty-five food and craft booths are lined up, Pick said.
Booths include ceramic and clay artwork, homemade jewelry, fleece throws, Pampered Chef, purses, Mary Kay, embroidery and business promotion booths.

Music in the Park
Entertainment will be available on the main stage in Tea City Park throughout Saturday.
Phil Baker will perform at 1 p.m. Sugar Daddy’s Band at 6 p.m.
Ditzy the Clown will also be there to entertain kids.
The entertainment is free. Beer gardens will be open until 10 p.m.
Sugar Daddy’s Band performs cover songs from the 70s, 80s and today’s artists like Pink, Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson.
“We try to play up-tempo songs. It’s all stuff you can sing and dance to,” band member Curt Hoff of Tea said.
This will be the fourth year Hoff and the Sugar Daddy’s Band will perform at Teapot Days.
“It’s a really fun time,” Hoff said. “It will be interesting to play in the park, too. It’s always a fun crowd.”

Fireworks
Premiere Pyrotechnics will shoot off fireworks at the Tea City Park Saturday. The show will begin at 9 p.m. or dusk.
Spectators should bring lawn chairs and blankets. There will be music entertainment during the show.

Free Swimming
The Tea City Pool will have free swimming from 1-5 p.m. Saturday. The pool is located on Brian Street just across from Tea City Park and the B&G Milky Way.