By VERNA BROCK
What a lovely weekend we had! I believe we earned it, after the last blast of frigid air, but how perfect was Saturday? The Woodville Founders Day Festival was a huge success, and I want to give a shout out to a few of the folks who made it so great.
First, thanks to the Woodville Volunteer Fire Department folks who labor for most of every year planning and recruiting vendors; thanks to Family Funeral Home for loaning us two tents every year, “just in case” we need shelter from the weather. Rain or shine, the tents provide appreciated shelter and shade. The Woodville Ace Hardware provides primo raffle items every year, always looking to support the community.
Huge thanks to Leon County for all their support; this year we had the Showmobile stage for the first time and the musical acts were amazing. I can’t say enough about Ms. Barbara Faircloth who unstintingly shared her musical connections and expertise, making our schedule of events really shine. American AV and the team from Leon County Parks and Recreation kept us up and running the entire day.
We had more than 70 vendors/entrepreneurs and close to 15 inforofmational providers. The quality of the arts and crafts was superb! The historical performances and demonstrations were, as always, riveting.
Theater With A Mission did several different performances celebrating our nation’s 250th birthday; Finley’s Brigade attended for the 14th year; Mark Bess brought his hand-built, half-size replica of the Confederate submarine, The Hunley.
The Native American dancers and drummers were amazing!
Mike “Murph” Murphy demonstrated what it means to be a blacksmith and create functional works of art using his hands, iron, an anvil and heat.
On top of that, the Woodville VFD raised nearly $3,200 to help continue paying for fire and rescue services.
Thank you, Woodville, and everyone else who came out to support our event this year! Without you, we couldn’t make it happen.