The Floyd County Times – Well, it’s official. Wheelwright has its very own annual festival now that the inaugural Coal Camp Days Festival went off without a hitch.

In fact, the first festival for the city fared far better than that, most agree, hosting upwards of 1,000 visitors during the two days the event covered Memorial Day weekend.

From Saturday, May 23, to Sunday, May 24, Lisa Perry, director of the Wheelwright Historical Society, said not only did some 1,000 people take part in all Coal Camp Days offered, but there were also no incidents one typically sees during such a gathering in the region.

“We had a two-day festival with hundreds and hundreds of people in which there was no fighting, no major injuries and no arrests,” Perry said laughing. “Everybody had a good time and I had a lot of people stopping me and wanting to make sure we were going to do it again next year.”

Follow up:

Perry and her band of volunteers, these being the South Floyd students who worked to organize the first-ever festival, are already talking about next year, expecting even more success than this past weekend.

“It was a bit more expensive to give the festival this year than it will be next year,” said Perry. “This year we had to start from the ground up. We had to build the games and buy all the prizes. Next year we’ll already have the games in place and some prizes can be used then, too. We’ll have a head start.”

The festival featured many attractions, including a car show in which some 20 vehicles were shown off, a Coal Camp Idol competition that ended in a four-way tie between what Perry called a “wonderful group of kids the judges just couldn’t choose between,” in addition to Halo competitions and live music from city park.

The cornerstone to the festival, which cost approximately $5,000 to organize and was brought together in five short months, is that any revenue brought in is collected for $500 scholarships to deserving South Floyd High School graduates. There is certainly enough to award at least one scholarship, Perry said Tuesday, and as they are able, more will be given out in the future.

Applications for these scholarships can be picked up at South Floyd High School and deadlines to submit those applications are June 15.

Perry said it was a good feeling to see the festival now complete, to know that the goal was met and that things would continue to grow from here.

“We give the students as much freedom as we can in deciding what they will include in the festival, and we’re expecting great things for next year,” she said. “I just cannot say how extremely proud of all the students and volunteers who made this happen.