Colonel Fest expanding to two-days in 2024, adding Colonel Sanders 10K race

Following the success of Third Annual Colonel Fest Saturday, organizers are already making plans for next year’s festival, which will be expanded to two days for the first time. It will take place April 19-20, 2024.

Mooovin’ in the right direction: Corbin Tourism Director Maggy Monhollen, seen above taking a ride through downtown, was thrilled with the turnout for this year’s Colonel Fest. Plans are in place to expand the festival next year.

In addition, next year’s Colonel Fest will also feature the return of the Colonel Sanders 10K race.

Previously, the 10K race had been held in conjunction with the Colonel Sanders Half Marathon, but organizers decided earlier this year to discontinue the half marathon due to a variety of factors.

These are some of the changes announced for next year’s event by Corbin Tourism Director and Downtown Manager Maggy Monhollen.

Monhollen said that she was thrilled with the turnout for this year’s festival, which took place Saturday in downtown Corbin.

“It has been the most magnificent day,” Monhollen said early Saturday evening. “We broke every record as far as attendance is concerned from year one and year two. People participated in all of the contests. It legitimizes the necessity to make it into a two-day event next year.”

Monhollen said she feels the change to a two-day event is necessary for many reasons, including all of the enjoyment that the children and families had at this year’s event.

“Why not give them two days jam packed full of fun and allow our vendors, who work so hard on their handcrafted items, to have the opportunity to live the dream,” she said. “Next year we plan to add the Colonel Sanders 10K race to Colonel Fest.”

Neither the Colonel Sanders Half Marathon nor the Colonel Sanders 10K will be taking place this year. Both were previously held in the fall.

Monhollen said that the half marathon didn’t grow like organizers were hoping that it would.

“By year three we were hoping for 300 – 400 people. It is one of those things that you don’t know until you try. It takes a significant amount of resources,” she said noting it is harder for small business owners to give and support local events when faced with inflation, supply chain issues and difficulties finding staff. “We just felt it was best to move onto something different.”

Monhollen added that she would like to thank the community for all of its support for this year’s event.

“We are also grateful to the volunteers from the University of the Cumberlands as well as Parkway Ministries for coming out running the kids games and making sure everybody had a good time,” she noted.