Runners burst from the starting line in the Onion Festival 5K, led by members of the Princeton Senior High School cross country team, several dressed in shirts and ties. Shelley Dowdle/The Princeton Herald

Hundreds of Princeton residents swarmed to Princeton Senior High School for the 22nd annual Princeton Onion Festival.

“I think it was our best one yet,” said Princeton Lions Club President Casey Gunnels. “We had some great new sponsors for our 5K, with Scooters providing coffee and lemonade at the starting line and Whataburger providing chicken biscuits as well as a balloon arch for our finish line. 

Gunnels said the festival upgraded the vendor signup process with Lauren Stokes taking over as vendor coordinator. “It was a very smooth process,” he said. 

Gunnels added the festival had a lot of student assistance this year, everything from marking the floor for vendor booths to directing runners on the 5K route and helping get all of the auction items carried out at the end of the day. 

The Saturday, April 25, event began with a 1-mile fun run and 5K run/walk at Jackie Hendricks Stadium followed by a marketplace of vendors selling a wide variety of items, including many handcrafted treasures. There were also dozens of items auctioned, raising money for Lions services to the community.

Elementary schools displayed pupils’ vocal talents on the Onion Festival Stage in the PSHS cafeteria as competitors squared off for the cornhole toss-off and the Mantooth Memorial 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, where former Panthers teammates Jacob Nocktonick, Kai Brinkerhoff and Derek Lockman were the guys to beat.

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