First annual ‘Wassailfest’ successful

By Staff
Nathan Strickland
Russellville’s first annual ‘Wassailfest’ showed huge interest to everyone within the community.
The event kicked off at 4 p.m. Thursday with a pancake dinner. People crowded into First Baptist Church’s fellowship hall to enjoy a serving of three pancakes with your choice of sausage link or patty. A little after 6 p.m., folks began to finish up their meals and flooded into the streets of downtown Russellville.
A small beverage stand was set up in front of Russellville’s historic Roxy Theater. Volunteers served hot chocolate and soothing wassail, providing people with a glimpse of warmth in the bitter cold evening. Bill Thompson of Akins Florist joined in the festivities, offering his wife’s version of wassail to the community.
The town’s annual Christmas parade then swept through the main strip, spreading Christmas cheer to the entire community. After the parade, The Roxy lit up the night sky, luring people to come and enjoy a night of entertainment on behalf of the RHS band and show choir. McNutt said in the beginning it was not planned to be like this. “At first we had the event scheduled on a different date than the parade,” he said. “But since the football team went to state the parade got put on the date we planned the event for and I think it turned out to be an even bigger event than was anticipated.”
The Chamber of Commerce expressed their interest to McNutt that they would like to get involved more next year and try to make this an annual event for the entire community to enjoy.