It is that time of year for Covington Days once again.

The festival kicks off at 10 a.m.  Saturday and runs through 5 p.m. Sunday.

To start the festival first thing on Saturday, Festival Coordinator and Covington Communications and Marketing Manager for the city Karla Slate said, “festival-goers can expect to have a lot of fun with the parade.”

The parade will begin at Real Life Church on 180th Avenue Southeast and end at the festival grounds.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Southeast Wax Road from Southeast 272nd Street to Southeast 262nd Place will be closed.

The road will reopen when it is safe to do so, according to event organizers. It is estimated the parade will go until 11:45 a.m.

A number of different events from the Reptile Man to a watermelon eating contest will be happening throughout the day Saturday.

In between events, Slate said, attendees can spend time browsing through the number of different vendor booths.

During Covington Days there will also be a Kids Zone where kids can enjoy face painting and pony rides, along with many other events, Slate said.

The events continue Sunday with free ice cream handed out by City Council members along with many other events to cap out the weekend festival.

Slate said the city is excited to bring back the Reptile Man.

“His show is extremely popular for kids and families,” she said.

She added residents might also be interested to know that Covington’s new police chief will be at the dunk tank at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Slate said each year fine tuning is done to the festival based on feedback from vendors and attendees.

This year there are minor changes including festival hours and the entertainment line-up, she said.

Covington Days has been around since the 1980s, Slate said.

She has been helping plan the festival since 2009 when she was the city’s liaison when the Covington Lions Club were still organizing Covington Days.

In 2013, the city of Covington took over the management duties of planning the festival.

She added, the main difference now with the city planning the festival is that Covington can now dedicate staff members to help and can also use different resources than the “small but dedicated volunteer committee” used in the past.

“The festival has been around for a long time and we’ve continued to build upon it each year,” Slate said.

This year Covington Days will be held on 169th Place SE in the Valley Medical North Clinic parking lot.