Founders Fest plans underway in Red Bay

By Staff
Melissa Cason
RED BAY – The City of Red Bay is working on its annual Founders Festival.
Festival committee chair Tracie Bolding said the committee is still working on several aspects of the festival such vendors, and accepting sponsorships for the festival.
"We are looking forward to the event," she said. "There is no official theme to this year's festival but we did use our traditional train on our shirts and incorporated the high school mascot this year."
The festival is will return to it's traditional format with arts and crafts, local entertainment, a car, truck and motorcycle show and several other activities.
"Last year's festival celebrated our 100th birthday, but this year we are keeping it simple," Bolding said.
The entertainment is slated to begin at 9 a.m. and will conclude around 4 p.m. that day.
"We will have a pageant this year on Sept. 13, and our queens will be in our Christmas parade," Bolding said.
She said everyone is getting excited about the festival, and they expect a good crowd this year.
Scotty Kennedy with the Red Bay Museum said Founder's Fest replaced the city's big picnic called the Great Picnic, which always had a big turnout every year.
"We have pictures of the Great Picnic and the streets were crowded," he said.
Kennedy said the museum will be open for Founder's Fest in order to share the city's heritage with visitors.
Festival t-shirts are available at city hall at $12 each. There is a choice of red or green.
For more information on the festival, call city hall at 356-4474.