Paynesville’s Town And Country Days Brings Back The 80s

PAYNESVILLE (WJON News) -- You can take a trip back in time at a Central Minnesota town festival next week. Paynesville's Town & Country Days theme for this year is Back to the 80s. The festival will be highlighted by the 80s-themed parade on June 19th, celebrating neon culture, iconic 80s movies, and music.

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The 80s Parade is Thursday, June 19th at 7:00 p.m.

Paynesville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jacob Bertram says they took the theme from a band a member loves:

"There is actually one of the board members who really enjoyed this 80s-themed band called Ladies of the 80s. They saw them once or twice before, you know, they do/highlight the women that were in/popular in the 80s as well as some other mix of those songs, and they said hey, let's do something so we can get them to come to Paynesville."

PHOTO courtesy of Paynesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bertram says it worked, and Ladies of the 80s will play a free concert as part of Town and Country Days on June 20th at 7:00 p.m. The festival has it all, from a Family Fun night with a pet show and kids' tractor pull, to a carnival, and, new for 2025, a raffle where you can win a new four-wheeler, e-bikes, golf passes, and more.

Family Fun Night is June 18th at Gazebo Park from 5;00 - 9:00 p.m.

PHOTO courtesy of Paynesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bertram says the kids' tractor pull is one of the festival's highlights every year:

"It's kind of a fun event for the kids to enjoy and that's a long lastesting tradition, I mean, that's been part of Paynesville here probably since it almost started, back in the 60s, for having some type of event for that so I remember that as a kid for sure and that was one of the staples of the whole week was to participate in that."

Bertram says they try to add new things to the festival every year as well to try and expand the event. Town and Country Days runs from June 18th through the 21st.

PHOTO courtesy of Paynesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

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