Corbin’s Colonel Fest, Williamsburg’s Pops in the Park slated for Saturday

There is plenty to do in downtown Corbin and Williamsburg this Saturday.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

The second annual Colonel Fest will take place from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Main Street in downtown Corbin.

The event is being held in honor of Corbin’s most famous resident, Colonel Harland Sanders, who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken. It will feature a number of vendors and activities, including inflatables, a petting zoo, pony rides, chainsaw carving and the “chicken cluckin and struttin contest’ among other festivities.

This event suffered from some really lousy weather during its inaugural showing last year, but fortunately organizers are bringing it back for another go around this year.

The second event happening Saturday is the inaugural Pops in the Park, which will take place in downtown Williamsburg starting at 6 p.m. at River Fog Park, which is the green space at the corner of Main and Third streets.

The Williamsburg High School Band, the high school jazz band, and the middle school band along with the University of the Cumberlands Jazz Band will be performing.

It will be similar to the Brown Bag Bash, which features the Williamsburg High School Band and Choir members performing while boosters sell brown bag lunches with polish sausage, chips and a drink.

Proceeds from the Pops in the Park brown bag supper will go to the Williamsburg Music Department.

Probably the thing that I am most excited about regarding this event will be the dedication of a new stage at River Fog Park, which is being named in honor of the late Nannie Hays, who was a former Williamsburg High School Band Director and was the first Williamsburg Main Street Manager.

Like many people in Williamsburg, I was proud to call Nannie a friend, and I still miss her after her passing last year.

Nannie was one of a kind, and was someone, who was truly dedicated to wanting to make Williamsburg a better place. There is no one in Williamsburg more appropriate to name this stage after.

Ironically, if Nannie were still around, I don’t know that she would have wanted the fuss and probably would not have let them name something in her honor like this.

Now to switch gears and talk about a couple of other topics before I conclude this column.

• Congratulations to Corbin Arena Manager Kristi Balla and her staff, who recently took home the award for Best Live Venue at the 2022 Appalachian Arts and Entertainment Awards, which were held at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg.

In her nearly six years at the helm of The Arena, Balla has successfully attracted a large number of events, including a fairly wide array of concerts and entertainers. By far, The Arena has seen its greatest success since she has been there running it. Hopefully, we can keep her there for several more years.

• The May 17 Primary Election is fast approaching. In this week’s edition of the News Journal on page A-5, you will see a page dedicated to coverage of the constable races. The majority of our constable candidates answered the candidate questionnaires/election surveys that we sent out to candidates in contested races.

Second-District Constable Ron “Bubba” Bowling was not included as he is unopposed this year.

Their answers appear unedited. Next week we will feature responses from candidates in contested magistrate races so be sure to check out their responses so you can make informed choices when you go to the polls.