Thursday, August 30, 2001
Florence prepares for Y'all Festival
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer Contributor
FLORENCE — There's nothing City Councilwoman Melodee Merrell would rather have done today than set up a booth on Main Street.
The 21st annual Florence Y'all Festival takes over Friday for its four-day run.
Mrs. Merrell, the festival chairwoman, said some 43 food and craft booths and rides will line the street. “Little Mr. and Miss Florence” pageants will be Monday afternoon with a fireworks show at 9 p.m. Monday at the Tri-City YMCA.
But it's the booths and fireworks that touch Mrs. Merrell's heart. Instead of groaning about lugging the booths around, Mrs. Merrell reminisces about her mother, the late Sharon Grubbs, who used to set up the booths each year before she died in 1993.
“I helped her, and I took over her job,” Mrs. Merrell said.
The fireworks show “was her favorite thing; it was the finale to a hard weekend. It was just something she thoroughly enjoyed.”
Two years ago, the
festival almost fizzled like a spent sparkler.
In 1999, construction on Main Street forced the city to move “Y'all” to the Government Center on Ewing Boulevard. Even worse, the four-day party shrank to one. Mrs. Merrell said there were only about 15 booths.
“What we found out was people are so used to coming to Main Street that moving it to the government center was a shock to people,” City Councilman Mel Carroll said. “The result was we had a perfect formula, and we should not have messed with it.”
“Y'all” last year returned to Main Street — an event Mrs. Merrell wasn't sure would happen, thanks to the narrower road. Still, about 25,000 people attended over three days.
Now that the festival is back to four days, Mrs. Merrell expects about 40,000 people.
“It's going to take us a while to build back up,” Mrs. Merrell said. “The street is narrower than it was originally. I'm figuring out where I can fit a few more.”
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Florence prepares for Y'all Festival
