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Manchester Old Timer’s Day will return to the historic town square for a celebration of days gone by, complete with live music, a parade and 130 vendors Saturday Oct. 7.

“Our festival is about the old traditions of the town,” event chairman Roger Steele said. “It is not necessarily old people or old cars or anything like that, it is just the older ways of life, the laid back simpler times.”

The Old Timers Day parade, perhaps the highlight of the annual event, will officially kickoff at 10 a.m. with musician Macy Tabor serving as grand marshal. Parade entries can compete to be recognized as the top float in their category.

“We have $500 we do for prizes and we have four categories we do that for,” Steele said. “Our theme this year is “Manchester Over the Decades.”

Steele said the historic town square will be decorated with hay bales and other fall decorations for a true fall festival feel.

For those interested in entering a float in the parade, there is still time.

“We can still take a few more,” he said. “We can actually take them up to the day, you just have to out it towards the back.”

Steele said the parade this year will include a replica of the historic bridge at Old Stone Fort State Park built by the Save the Bridge Committee.

“It is going to be a great looking thing, I have seen pictures of it,” he said. “It looks just like the bridge they are trying to save.”

Steele said Macy Tabor has had a longtime history with Old Timers Day.

“She is just a good representative of Manchester,” Steele said. “She has been at Manchester Old Timers Day since she was eight-years old. I heard her yodel at a benefit and I said I have got to have her, she was the first person I signed. She has been our starting act since 2012.”

Old Timers Day is also seeing an increase in the number of vendors scheduled to participate in the event. While 2022 brought 97 vendors, this year’s numbers have jumped to 130.

Originally ran by the City of Manchester, Old Timers Day was on hiatus from 2008 until 2012, when it was revived by Steele.

“I created a board in 2012 and we brought it back and we raise our own money and we do our own thing,” he said. “It is not city-affiliated but they help us with road closures and police and stuff like that, but we don’t get any money from the City of Manchester or the county.”

Steele said he wanted to bring Old Timers Day back because it is something that can be enjoyed by the entire community.

“Growing up it was somewhere we could go and have fun as kids and play football and see each other,” Steele said. “It was a good day where it didn’t cost a lot of money and it is a parade and you got to play old fashioned games and you could win things.”

“You could stay all day and not spend a whole lot of money,” he added. “We tried to bring it back just like it was back then.”

Old Timers Day 2023 schedule

Friday Oct. 6

-Free Bingo: 7 p.m.

Saturday Oct 7

Vendor set up: 6-9 a.m.

Parade: 10 a.m.

Macy Tabor: 11 a.m. until noon

Duck River Dance: 12:15 p.m.

Alex Davis: Banjo: 12:45-1:15 p.m.

Anna Marie: 1:15-3 p.m.

Stone Groove: 3:15-4:30 p.m.