After a damp start in 2016, the Rotary Freedom Festival is expanding its signature fundraising event for the second year, and organizer Joan Wagnon is checking her Farmers Almanac regularly to track the weather.

Using all of downtown Topeka, from the Kansas River to the state capitol; vendors, entertainment, food trucks and live music will fill the city for a family friendly day of fun celebrating Topekas history.

The festival will take place Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. with a 5K race. Runners will start at 9th and Jackson Street and run down around the capitol building. One lane of Kansas Avenue will be shut down during the 5K. The run is organized by YWCA of Northeast Kansas Girls on the Run program.

Wagnon has worked closely with the YWCA in the past, serving as the interim CEO in 2015.

Im well acquainted with them and their capacity of what they can do, and I needed somebody I could depend on, Wagnon said.

Wagnon has coordinated with more than a dozen groups to bring this festival to life.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. a kids area will be set up on the east side of the statehouse. Activities include face-painting, chalk drawing, games and various crafts. The Skys the Limit mobile gaming unit will be available for a small fee.

At the corner of 8th and Kansas, in the former Ray Beers building, artistic guests are welcome to join the students of Highland Park High School as they complete their window mural project. The collaboration began in the spring semester with high school students creating poetry about what freedom means to them. On July 1, they will use window paint to transform their words into designs on the window panes.

Carol Bradbury of Bloomerang Art Studios will also be organizing a community art project for anyone wishing to participate.

Similar to last year, re-enactors will be strolling through the grounds and giving demonstrations. Performances are scheduled every two hours, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Constitution Hall, 429 S. Kansas Ave., will again showcase historical re-enactments depicting the dispersal of the legislature on July 4, 1856 by Col. Edwin Sumner.

Tours of the State Capitol are also available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Capitol will be accessible through the visitors center on 8th Street.

Chris Meinhardt, a Rotary member and one of the organizers of the event, said an antique cannon will be available again this year to shoot every half hour.

The group, the Lecompton Reenactors, theyre kind of a big deal, Wagnon said. They have done several re-enactions for many years, and they often congregate around Constitution Hall.

Various churches will be selling food downtown during the festival. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church will be in the Rotary Pocket Park, and Assumption Church will host a food stand in front of their facility at 204 S.W. 8th Ave.

A free tour bus will operate from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., giving tours of some of Topekas most famous landmarks: the Kansas River, the Capitol, Constitution Hall and the post office courtroom where the Brown v Board of Education case was first tried. Guests can step off at any of these stops to explore.

Along the Kansas River, the Rotary Club has organized a pop-up park on the north side, near the location of a proposed Oregon Trail Park. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks will provide an air-boat to give rides and discuss river development; boating and canoeing will be available.

A cookout, guitar music, levee walks and stories about the river are also scheduled. Wagnon suggests parking at 4th and Kansas and riding the tour bus to the river if interested.

Pocket parks along Kansas Avenue will feature musicians and entertainment. Native American drummers and flute players will start at 10 a.m. in the Fidelity Bank pocket park, a magician will perform every hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Mars pocket park in front of Wolfes Camera, and The Capitol-Federal pocket park will showcase a variety of musicians. However, something is scheduled for every pocket park along Kansas Avenue.

At 4 p.m. the focus will shift to a free concert at 9th and Kansas Ave. The street, from 8th to 10th, will close and be filled with food trucks, Rotary beer garden tents and other vendors.

The concert will showcase the talents of Kelley Hunt, a blues singer from Lawrence; The Skirts, a womens bluegrass band from Chase County; and Maria the Mexican, two young women who play roots rock with a Mexican flair. Opening are the Smooth Tones, featuring Kelvin Ross.

Tickets are required for the evening concert but are free and may be printed at home or downloaded to a smartphone. A limited number of reserved seats for the musical entertainment are available for $10.

Wagnon explained the event is asking people to register for tickets to better understand the attendance numbers and as a way to notify people should the festival be moved indoors. By registering, guests will sign up for text alerts from the festival organizers alerting them to any changes in the schedule.

The Rotary Freedom Festival is funded by local businesses and individuals. Food and beer sales will go toward festival expenses, with remaining funds going to the Rotarys anti-bullying program.

The Freedom Festival began in 2016 as a way for rotary to raise community awareness for Topekas history, Wagnon explained. The event was dampened on two occasions by rainy weather, and if bad weather threatens this Saturday, Wagnon said the festivities will be moved inside to the Topeka Performing Arts Center at 214 S.E. 8th Ave.

To register for a concert ticket and find the schedule as well as other information, visit cityspin.com/northeastkansas/e/rotary-freedom-festival-2017.

Contact reporter Savanna Maue at (785) 295-5621 or @CJFoodFun or @SavannaMaue on Twitter.

Concert Schedule

4 - 5:15 p.m. - Smooth Tones featuring Kelvin Ross

5:15 - 6:30 p.m. - The Skirts

6:45 - 8 p.m. - Maria the Mexican

8 - 8:30 p.m. - Rotary members to host Freedom Festival program

8:30 - 10:15 p.m. - Kelley Hunt

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Rotary Freedom Festival expands events for second year of ... - Topeka Capital Journal