By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
It’s the time of the year when leaves begin to fall and temps start cooling, a sign that fall festival season is starting in Kentucky. And boy does the Commonwealth have a bunch of ‘em from which to choose.
If one includes those in late November which are often pre-Christmas gatherings, there are about 200, though I’d be sure to check before going in case the pandemic causes cancellations or altering of schedules. Kentucky Tourism provides a fairly comprehensive listing. Some, of course, are on the same dates and far distant from each other, so attending two in the same day may prove difficult.
An overhead view of tents at Kentucky Wool Festival (Photo Courtesy www.kywoolfest.org
I usually attend a few of the gatherings every year, and here is one of my favorites. I like the Falmouth Wool Festival, held this year October 1-3, for several reasons.
First, it often provides a bit of a reunion with some old friends and some family from my native northern Kentucky area. I enjoy seeing the hilly terrain and colorful scenery of rural Pendleton County coming from Falmouth to the festival site which sits close by Kincaid Lake State Park. The crowd has grown hugely since it moved from its original location off Highway 27 in Falmouth years ago, and I suspect you’ll have a “wooly” good time if it’s one you choose.
I checked on a few other Kentuckians about their favorite festivals, and there seems to be a yearning for the familiarity of “community” about their attendance. Eddie Connor now lives in Versailles, but he was raised in Winchester and he enjoyed the Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival (most recently held a few weeks ago), where, he commented, “It always felt like the whole city came together as one on the weekend of the festival.”
Lydia Jacobs praised Appalachia Day on the campus of Alice Lloyd College in her Pippa Passes home. It’s in “remembrance of two ladies who came from Boston and New York to start schools,” she said. “ALC is a ‘light unto the mountains.'”
Similarly, Rachel Njenga, also of Versailles, particularly likes the Woolly Worm Festival in her native Beattyville.
Thomas Williams (Photo provided)
“I love seeing the people I know, eating all those hometown favorites such as sweet cinnamon rolls, soup beans and cornbread,” she said. “I love seeing all of the locally made crafts and vendors. The Woolly Worm race is fun to compete in, and there is so much undiscovered musical talent there. I also love that my little hometown is able to have people investing in the people of my town as most really need it.”
Craftsman Thomas Williams, of Paris, called the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen Fall Fair the “granddaddy” of many craft fairs. This is the 60th anniversary of the event, near Berea at the Indian Fort Theater on October 9-10. It marks the 38th for Thomas and his “high point” of the year.
“There will be artists and craftsmen from all over Kentucky, juried members of the Guild, and some invited from surrounding states,” he said. “The setting is very nice—Indian Fort is a wooded reserve owned by Berea College, recently renovated with modern facilities. There will be live music and food vendors and probably hands-on craft projects for the kids.”
As one will see with some searching, the many festivals around the state present ample opportunities to meet Kentuckians’ diverse interests and needs for a sense of homecoming and local pride. With those elements in mind, take notice of the preparation for the Harrodsburg Sestercentennial coming in 2024.
The term “sestercentennial” refers to 250 years, the age the Mercer County town will be in 2024 after its founding in 1774. Harrodsburg is billed as “the oldest English settlement west of the Alleghenies.” There is an amazing amount of interesting historical information about the town already being presented on these three links, established by Bobbi Dawn Rightmyer, a local Harrodsburg historian:
• www.harrodsburgsestercentennial.com
• The Harrodsburg Sestercentennial Facebook Page
• Harrodsburg 250th Celebration Facebook Page
According to Rightmyer, “Many Harrodsburg citizens have individual projects going—books, photography, plays, displays, a celebration party, a stamp release and maybe a coin also, even a bronze statue of James Harrod. We are hoping to bring more attention to James Harrod, because in my opinion, he was more important than Boone because Harrod founded the first European heritage town.”
There’s plenty to experience around Kentucky… now and in the future.
