Stage is set for A’ROR’N Days

A’ROR’N Days is back in big city style! Starting Thursday at 9 a.m. and running through Sunday at 1 p.m., Aurora’s annual summer festival will be hosting events and activities for all ages. 
This year’s theme is Mardi Gras, with a parade that is themed after the tradition so closely associated with New Orleans.
“We were just sitting around discussing it,” said Roger Scott, president of A’ROR’N Days Committee. “People were throwing names out and all of a sudden we hit on that and so everybody just decided that sounds like a good time to have a party, so let’s do that.”
The event kicks off Thursday with the Quilt Show “How it’s started…How it’s going” at the Plainsman Museum at 9 a.m on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Quilts of Valor will be presented on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Another A’ROR’N Days tradition, the kickoff luncheon, will begin serving at 11 a.m. at the Bremer Center.
Thursday is also family night on the courthouse lawn, with inflatables, carnival games, a kid’s tractor pull, Rotary Club train ride, Giddy Up pony racing and a sand coin dig.
At 7:30 p.m., the second year of Aurora’s Got Talent will take center stage in the courthouse parking lot, hosted by the Hamilton Community Foundation.
 At 9 p.m. there will be a showing of “The Princess and the Frog” on the courthouse lawn.
On Friday, the quilt show is the main event during the morning and early afternoon hours. The street vault competition will begin Friday at 6 p.m. and again Saturday at 9 a.m., also in the courthouse parking lot. 
A variety of activities will bring the square to life that evening, including the Show & Shine Car Show from 5-9 p.m., the Edgerton’s Interactive Explorit Zone from 5-9, activities at the Hamilton County Youth Center, also from 5-9, and a pork BBQ beginning at 5 p.m., sponsored by the Aurora Booster Club.
A new event to the A’ROR’N Days, the 3-point shooting contest, is slated for the Youth Center, beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. 
“We’re trying to just add one more thing for the people  to do,” Scott said. “It’s just one of those things we’ve added to make it something new this year.”
That same evening at 7:20, winners of the Eloe awards will be recognized on the southwest corner of the square. Alumni classes will be celebrating throughout the weekend, hosting their own respective gatherings at various venues.
The night ends with a showing of “The Greatest Showman” at 9 p.m. on the courthouse lawn.
A full agenda of activities begins early Saturday with a returning event that has been missing since 2020. The MCHI 5K or one mile Fun Run and Walk begins at 7 a.m. in the MCHI Rehab parking lot.
“It’s exactly what they (MCHI) had done before, so they’re looking forward to it,” Scott commented. “We are too. It was always well attended.”
A pickleball demonstration is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. at the Streeter Park courts, with a tennis tournament at the same venue beginning at 10. Registration for a poker run also begins at 10 for an event scheduled to begin after the parade.
The Grand Parade lineup begins 10:30 a.m. at the high school with judging taking place at 11 a.m. and the start beginning with a flyover at noon.
As always, a line-up food vendors will be set up on the square throughout the weekend, hitting a peak of business just after the parade.
There will be a new dodgeball tourney at the Bremer Center at 3 p.m. which requires registration. 
At 9 p.m., a Bases Loaded street dance will begin in front of the Grandview. Be sure to look up at the sky when the sun sets Saturday as fireworks, hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, will be launched at the fairgrounds at sunset.
On Sunday the Orphan Grain Train Burgers and Brat Feed is set for the 4-H building on the fairgrounds at 11 a.m. and the Edgerton Explorit Center will host the  A’ROR’N Days KABOOM Fuze, Boom, Bang at 1 p.m., at no charge.
Scott mentioned that more information and activities can be found on the A’ROR’N Days Facebook page or by scanning the QR code on the brochures.