The 9th annual Hawthorne Day, a day to celebrate our town, occurred Saturday, September 23, 2017. Hawthorne Day is a family-oriented annual event that features games, fireworks, rides, animals, and of course a feast of food! Located at the Hawthorne Memorial Pool grounds, vendors set up their tents to sell, and many Hawthorne residents come out to attend the event.

A majority of the space is overrun by food vendors and food trucks, most of which are based locally, such as the Hot Diggity Grill and Dunkin Donuts. They served almost everything you could ask for, such as pizza, french fries, chicken, empanadas, burgers, fried Oreos, zeppoles, funnel cake, to everyone who attended. The wide variety of food kept everyone satisfied all day throughout the multiple events and games.

Hawthorne Day is not only about the food however; the rest of the pool grounds is dominated by rides and games suitable for younger children. Some of the events to keep the little ones entertained included laser tag, bouncy houses, face painting, pumpkin painting just in time for autumn, and inflated slides. While the small rides only ran until 6 p.m., many kids enjoyed themselves playing on the rides all day.

Our community put on a show for everyone who attended and live music was played for them to enjoy. Of course the Hawthorne High School Marching Band, and cheerleaders performed as well. The cheerleaders, energetic and bright, cheered on our Hawthorne Bears. The Marching Band and Color Guard performed a great show as well, they played loud and proud!