Someone once said, “you couldn’t have asked for a better day if you had put in an order.” And those were the sentiments for Centre Fall Festival Number 29, as a huge crowd of exhibitors and vendors turned out for this year’s event.

The day started off as a cool, crisp, rain-free morning, which was a welcome change from the sultry weather of late, which may have been instrumental in encouraging more to come out.

One of the many exhibitors and vendors was W.A. Richardson with Project Lifesaver, who worked alongside the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department, who gave away gunlocks and junior badges.

Project Lifesaver is designed to provide electronic tracking bracelets for Alzheimer’s patients or patients with other forms of dementia to help located them if they become lost or disoriented.

“We are just letting people know that it is part of the sheriff’s department operation and it is not just some gimmick,” said Richardson. “We are just going to keep trying to keep it in front of the people. I know there’s a need out there, but we haven’t managed somehow to contact the people who need it. But they are there and we will get in touch with them.”



Sheriff Larry Wilson enjoyed the Fall Festival.

“It looks like there’s going to be a good crowd for it to be so cloudy,” said Wilson. “Maybe that will help keep things cool and more people will show up.”

“It seems like everybody is having a good time,” said Centre City Councilman Tony Wilkie. “There was a good crowd early too. The tractor group has brought a lot of attention down that way too.”

“There’s a lot of fellowship,” said Councilman Harry Moon.

New to this year’s festival was Li’L Smidgen with Clown Express, a.k.a. Dianna Hale of Decatur.

“Oh I think it’s wonderful!” said Hale. “There’s a lot of people here. I just watched the fun run, which was a great time for all of the little ones. I’m going to do some magic shows, I am going to be in the parade, just do some walk arounds.”

Hale said she started “clowning” 10 years ago.

“At our church, we had a clown ministry team and then I found out there was a worldwide association of clowns, so I joined them,” said Hale. “I’m on the board of the World Clown Association, part of the Southeast Clown Association. We just had our convention in Augusta last week.”

Following the Centre Fall Festival, Hale said she was headed to Louisville, Ky. for the Kentucky Clown Derby.

Sand Rock School Principal Ben East, wife, Shelley, and 17-month-old son, Bryan, were in town for the day.

“Everything’s going well,” said East. “There a lot of people, it’s a cool morning, everybody is enjoying it. Bryan is enjoying it.”

Eugene Mann, who retired as assistant principal at Centre Elementary School last year, also took part in this year’s festivities.



“It’s hard to get up and moving this early when you are retired,” laughed Mann. “I’ll probably have to watch a couple of ball games later. I don’t know how I had time to work!”

“It’s not hot and it ain’t raining,” said Terry Wright of Centre. “The weather is just right, you can’t beat it.”

Accompanying Wright was his friend, Labarion Stegall of Carrollton, Ga.

“I come up here and have fun every year you are having something to hang out with my people!” said Stegall. “I like the food! That’s what I like about the festival!”

Kurt Duryea, organizer of the Kids Fun Run, was proud to report a successful event which drew 205 runners and walkers out of 213 who actually registered for the event.

“All of them got a free t-shirt, the top 10 in each age group got a medal, all of them got participant ribbons,” said Duryea. “Jacks, McDonald’s, Hardees all gave coupons, Piggly Wiggly gave water. We couldn’t have done it not for Odyssey, Wal Mart, Baptist Medical, Baptist Health, the city of Centre, Jane Poovey Realty, all the sponsors. It was tremendous. It was a beautiful, beautiful race. The weather is great, the festival is great and it is going to keep growing every year.”

Cherokee County Educator and TheatreCentre Director Gary Davis and wife Kay also walked the Main Street of Centre to see what was taking place.

“I think there are as many people in town today as I’ve ever seen for these events,” said Davis. “I enjoyed the tractor parade. A few things like that make our town, our area, unique. I’m seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Davis reminds citizens that TheatreCentre recently casted its Christmas Production, a Christmas Carol, and that rehearsals have already begun for the 40-plus cast.

Added Davis, “As a matter of fact, we probably made a mistake ourselves for not putting up a booth ourselves for TheatreCentre as advertisement. We just want to keep it in the forefront of everybody’s mind.

Centre Mayor Phil Powell expressed his appreciation to those who helped make this year’s festival a success.

“I was very pleased with it,” said Powell. “All the girls at the office did a great job and the volunteers did a great job helping out. We just hope it improves next year. We did have one of the largest crowds that I’ve seen. We were very pleased with it.”

In the past, the Spirit of Cherokee, Inc. Committee has sponsored the Fall Festival event. The committee, however, opted last year to turn the event over to the city.

“I thought the festival went very well,” said Thereasa Hulgan, a member of the Spirit of Cherokee, Inc. Committee and executive director, Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce. “I was very pleased with the city taking over. They did a wonderful job with it. We had a huge crowd out. The weather was perfect. It was very successful.”