ShrinersFest Returning to Evansville Riverfront with a Few Major Changes

The Hadi Shrine Temple is bringing back their summer street festival, ShrinersFest, to the Evansville riverfront for the first time since 2020, and although this year's event will feature many of the same sights and sounds as previous versions, there will be some notable differences.

2022 Evansville ShrinersFest June 24th - 25th

The most notable difference for this year's event is that it will only run for two days, June 24th and 25th from 11:00 AM until 9:00 PM each day. Previous years have run for four to days or more.

Admission is Free

According to John T. Martin with the Evansville Courier-Press, for the first time since the 2020 festival, you and your family will be able to enter the festival and stroll Riverside Drive without needing to first purchase a button. During most festivals, each street that feeds into Riverside Drive was blocked off by orange construction fencing and featured a table where someone would make sure you were wearing a ShrinersFest button you had either purchased in advance or on the day you visited. That will not be the case with this year.

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No Airshow or Boat Races

Unlike previous years where the main attraction of the festival was an airshow featuring world-renowned flight teams such as the Blue Angels, or hydroplane racing on the waters of the Ohio River, the 2022 incarnation of the festival will feature neither of those attractions.

What the 2022 ShrinersFest Will Feature

What this year's festival will have is many of the same features that have drawn thousands of Tri-State residents to the riverfront during previous events. Several food booths will be on-site offering a wide variety of food items to enjoy, plus the parking lot of the Hadi Shrine Temple on the corner of Riverside Drive and Walnut Street will host a bierstube featuring live music*.

*While admission to the festival is free this year, there is a $5.00 charge to enter the bierstube.

This year's event will also feature a car show and a bike night on Friday.

Hadi Half-Pot Returns

This year's ShrinersFest will also mark the kick-off of ticket sales for the Hadi Half-Pot. Last year's raffle finished at $200,145, meaning the winner took home $100,072.50. With the built-in crowd at ShrinersFest, there's a good chance this year's total will exceed that.

Half-pot tickets will be available at the Hadi Shrine ticket office in their parking lot on Walnut Street during ShrinersFest, but sales will continue through July 10th at the following locations from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM as well:

Evansville

• Morgan Ave. & Green River Rd. behind Stanton Optical
• Lloyd Expressway & St. Joseph Ave. in the old Mead Johnson parking lot
• North Park Shopping Center next to Burger King
• Hadi Temple in the Hadi Shrine Circus ticket building

Huntingburg

• 309 N. Main St. - Huntingburg Machine Works

Princeton

• 2701 W. Broadway St.- Shopping center across from Walmart

Vincennes

• 2101 N. 6th Street - Cardinal Liquor

The winning number will be announced on Monday, July 11th at 10:00 AM Central.

For more information on this year's half-pot drawing, including the cost of tickets, visit the Hadi Half-Pot website.

For a complete list of events for this year's two-day ShrinersFest, including the schedule of live entertainment, follow the ShrinersFest Facebook page.

[Source: ShrinersFest on Facebook / Evansville Courier-Press]