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Come out to the 40th Annual Old Fashioned Trading Days this week
When I first started covering Old Fashioned Trading Days in Williamsburg nearly 30 years ago, I learned one thing pretty quickly.
Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.
If you referred to it simply as “Trading Days” then Old Fashioned Trading Days founder and coordinator Teresa Estes was NOT going to be happy about it and would definitely let you know that she wasn’t happy about it…LOL.
When Teresa helped start the festival all those years ago, part of how it got its name was that several merchants would dress up in old tymed clothing. I have to say that made the festival fairly unique in the early days and gave it an identity.
This year we mark a milestone with the 40th Annual Old Fashioned Trading Days, and my hat is off to Teresa and all of the volunteers and organizers, both past and present, who have helped make it one of the region’s premiere festivals.
Set up for this year’s festival starts this afternoon with the festival taking place, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in downtown Williamsburg.
While I didn’t make it to the first 10 or so Old Fashioned Trading Days, I have been to most, if not all, of the festivals since that time and it has been interesting to see the festival evolve over the years.
Take entertainment for instance.
Initially, the only musical acts to perform were either bluegrass or gospel, which always annoyed me a little bit since I am not a huge fan of either musical genre.
However, in 2013, Old Fashioned Trading Days – after many years of encouragement from myself and Mayor Roddy Harrison among other people – added a second entertainment stage on Main Street with country and rock acts.
I, for one, think this greatly expanded the appeal of the festival.
For the first couple of decades or so the festival only allowed local food vendors. You had band boosters, football boosters, churches, cheerleaders, civic groups and so forth selling hot dogs, barbeque, hamburgers, soup beans and cornbread, etc.
I guess it was about 15 years ago that the festival started allowing outside food vendors so now you have gyros and so forth that are pretty popular.
Nothing against the gyro vendor and some other out of town food vendors, but personally I usually try to seek out local organizations with food booths at all of our festivals.
I like to support our local church youth groups, school choirs and so forth. Plus, buying food from local vendors keeps the money here in the community. These folks are generally going to buy most of their food locally and the proceeds from their sales will stay here benefitting our community. (Plus, if they sell me food that makes me sick – which has never happened so far – then I know where to find them…LOL.)
Although there have been some changes to the festival, some things have also stayed relatively the same.
For instance, the Whitley Central Intermediate School fifth graders also do a great patriotic performance to start Friday morning, and the Williamsburg High School Band and Williamsburg High School Choir always put on good shows then too.
On Saturday morning, the antique car show will take place in the parking lot of the judicial center, which always features some very cool old automobiles.
If you aren’t doing anything Thursday, Friday or Saturday then come down to Williamsburg and check out the festival. You will be glad that you did.
- If you’re down at Old Fashioned Trading Days on Friday or Saturday then stop by the News Journal’s booth, which will be open from 5 – 9 p.m. each day. If you didn’t get to register for our prize package giveaway during Nibroc, then be sure to register for it during Old Fashioned Trading Days.
