Mayor says Midway Fall Festival was the largest ever

Story and photos by Katia Davis, University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

The 43rd annual Midway Fall Festival may well have been the largest ever.

Festival-goers crowded Main Street on Saturday.

On Saturday the festival had about 10,000 guests, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said in an email around midday Sunday. “Yesterday was far and away the largest single day crowd in festival history,” he wrote.

Monday morning, he said in an email, "I think it's safe to say this was the largest ever. The crowd Sunday remained robust most of the day, and I couldn't find anyone who didn't agree that Saturday was the largest crowd they'd ever seen. The festival itself was the largest ever as well, though, with 160 vendors and the bank parking lot almost completely full of vendors (and customers.)”

Vandegrift speculated Sunday that the large crowd could be because of the good weekend weather and good promotion by the festival committee, “especially on social media.”

The weekend high was 83 degrees, just in time for the festival after several days of cool and rainy weather. Last year’s festival had some rain, but the weather was sunny and clear for this year.

Vandegrift said something larger may be going on. “There's been a great buzz about Midway regionally and across the state it seems, even more so than usual,” he wrote. “Talking to some folks from all over the state this week I heard a lot of words like ‘exciting,’ ‘booming,’ and ‘energetic’ in describing the city, and I think that contributed.”

Lisa Cissell of Versailles resident agreed that the festival was larger than usual.

“Lots of people here today,” she said. “I think it might be one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen.” Cissell said she attends the festival every year.

Another hint of the large number of festival-goers was parking. Cars were parked on the sides of South Winter Street just before Walnut Street, a 10-minute walk from the festival.

A view heading north on South Winter Street shows the shoulder lined with cars of festival-goers.

Cissell said parking is “the only downfall. Because it’s so small and quaint, the parking is horrendous. It’s a little bit of a hike, but we are here because it is worth it.”

Cissell said she parked on West Stephens Street, an eight-minute walk from Main Street.

Vandegrift said in his email that he heard “cars were backed up on the I-64 on-ramps yesterday, trying to get into town.”

The Evans Orchard and Cider Mill train gave rides.

Paid parking was near the event for $5. The Sojourn City Church on Northside Drive, an eight-minute walk from Main Street, opened up its parking lot for free and offered festival guests water and restrooms.

Reece White of Versailles agreed that the event was well worth having to park a short distance away.

White said that between seeing old friends, the atmosphere, friendliness of Midway residents, and seeing what vendors are selling makes the event worthwhile. “It’s fun just to wander around and look,” he said.

Cissell said her favorite vendor was West Sixth Brewery. White said he enjoyed the food trucks and the Crank & Boom ice-cream booth.

“It’s just a lovely atmosphere and small enough that you feel like you can see everything within a day and have a good afternoon,” Cissell said. “We’ve had great weather.”

There were 160 vendors, the largest number ever.

The festival welcomed guests and vendors from surrounding counties and states. About 160 vendors lined the streets, up from 150 last year, also helping make the festival one of the largest yet.

Jim and Nancy Phillips of Jim and Nancy’s Handmade Baskets came from Jacksboro, Tennessee, about 30 miles from the Kentucky line, for what Nancy Phillips thought was the eighth consecutive year. 

“We used to do several shows in Kentucky, but since we’ve gotten older we’ve dropped a lot of our shows, but Midway is one of our favorites, so we keep coming back,” she said. “It’s a nice place and all of the people that put on the shows are always nice to you, that makes you wanna come back.”

Crowds enjoyed musical entertainment from the Southland Drive Bluegrass Band and other performers.