Midway Business Association gets ready for Fall Festival; setup of Main Street begins 8 a.m. Sept. 16

By Alexandria Kerns

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The Midway Business Association got ready for next week’s Midway Fall Festival and tackled some issues in its regular monthly meeting Wednesday morning. 

Tents and chairs have been ordered, and the Fall Festival is full to capacity with a total of 150 booths signed up to participate this year. MBA President Kenny Smith said there were only 120 vendors last year, which shows how the festival is growing. 

The increase of vendors has caused the festival to expand into the bank lot. Smith said vendors are still contacting the association every day to attempt to be part of the festival, but he has started to turn them away.

The festival will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept 18.

Smith announced that the festival will have new faces this year, including Monique Irons from Lafayette, Louisiana. She will be serving authentic Cajun food.  Her daughter, Alana Henderson, attends Midway University and plays on the women’s soccer team. Irons also will be serving baked goods from her bakery.

Smith is ecstatic to have Irons as a part of the festival. “If you have anything left over, you don’t have to worry about taking it back with you, ” he said.

Volunteers are still needed for trash pickup; the association has not been able to find a group for the job. It plans to look to the university, which recently started to admit men, and the Woodford County Schools. The association is looking for a group to volunteer so that they can donate to this group’s cause.

Setup for the festival will start 8 a.m. Sept. 16, which will close Main Street.  Smith said Gratz Street will remain open until 6 p.m. Friday so the bank will be accessible through the day.  

Other business

The association also discussed Kentucky’s film industry.  Smith said Midway was poorly represented on KYfilmoffice.com with pictures that are old and do not accurately depict the town.  He said seven of the 12 pictures were from the university and some were up to 20 years old.

“I went and looked at Midway on there and we were pathetic,” Smith said. “If I was a producer or a director looking for a location I would pass us up.”

This greatly bothered association media contractor Elisha Riddle, who said the pictures must be updated immediately in order to give users a fair look at the town and what it has to offer.

The association revamped its advertising committee by adding Riddle and Steve Simoff.  This occurred after Simoff explained that an ad in the Kentucky Horse Park Magazine and Louisville Magazine was almost unreadable.

“You take the two magazines and put them side by side, one’s larger than the other and they are both very difficult to read or capture someone’s eye,” said Simoff. He and Riddle said they would make sure that ads in the future are proofed and effective.

Smith announced that he would be stepping down as president of the Midway Business Association after this year.  This also will be the last year that he will serve as the artist coordinator of the Fall Festival.