Fall festival sees 5,000 attendees
By Lauren Estes-Velez
Special to the Enquirer
Every October the downtown streets of Falkville are lined with vendors, tractors and cars, while music plays and the smell of steak sandwiches and fresh-squeezed lemonade tempts hungry visitors at each corner.
Falkville Mayor Ken Winkles said from the entertainment to the attendance and the color run, everything went well Oct. 13 for the town’s Fall Festival.
“After a head count with the vendors, we had between 4,500-5,500 attend this year’s fall festival – which is great,” Winkles said. “We had 110 run the 5K Color Run, and we had great feedback with it. The car show had 42 cars entered in it, and we had 70-something vendors. It was a great day.”
The festival started at 7 a.m. with the yearly pancake breakfast, followed by color run start at 8 a.m. at South Park. The race looped through the festival and car show for a scenic route.
“The festival events began at 9 a.m., and the music went very well throughout the day on two stages,” Winkles said. “I actually talked to some attendees who traveled from Pensacola, Mobile and Chattanooga for the entertainment and festival itself.”
The main stage featured headliner Muscadine Bloodline, as well as American Idol contestant Brandon Elder, the Jeff Whitlow Band and others.
Special to the Enquirer
“Both stages drew a good crowd, and we really want to up the entertainment even more next year,” Winkles said. “We had an overwhelming response from sponsors, and we’re hoping to gather additional donations to get even bigger names for the 2019 festival.”
Winkles said area business donated $15,000 to the festival this year.
“We appreciate our local businesses so much, and anyone can donate to the festival at any time. We don’t push it until about three months prior to the event, but people can donate throughout the year,” Winkles said. “The vendors were all happy. All of them did great and made money except for one or two. One place that sold pork skins, lemonade and tea sold out last year and brought more this year.
“Even the Falkville football team that hosted the bingo game ran out of prizes early. It was a great annual fall festival.”
