WEST LIBERTY —
Roughly 48 hours after the tornado that wreaked a terrible toll of death and destruction in West Liberty and Morgan County, Judge-Executive Tim Conley said someone came up to him and asked him if he thought the annual Sorghum Festival, the county’s signature event for more than 40 years, would have to be canceled this year.
Conley’s response: Not a chance.
“I said, ‘We’re going to have the sorghum festival if it’s the last thing we do,’” said Conley, who co-chairs the event. “There was never a thought given to not having it.”
With the seven-month anniversary of the tornado just a few days away, the 42nd edition of the festival was scheduled to kick off at 8 a.m. today in downtown West Liberty, a substantial portion of which was destroyed by the EF3 twister. The event runs through Sunday.
While this year’s festival obviously will serve as a symbol of hope and recovery, and of life returning to normal in West Liberty, Conley said there was also another more practical reason for wanting to forge ahead with the event.
“It’s a substantial economic impact for us and we didn’t want to give that up,” he said.
Staging the festival costs about $85,000 a year, but according to Conley, studies have shown it generates roughly $2.5 million to $3 million for the city and county in direct expenditures alone.
According to Conley, festivalgoers will not notice substantial differences in this year’s event from the ones in the past.
“We’ve only had to change one food booth,” he said.
All of the items for sale at the festival will be hand-crafted, as usual, Conley said. And, while the event isn’t music-centered, there will be plenty of picking and singing by various performers throughout the weekend, he said.
One of the main attractions of the festival is the mule-drawn cane mill set up at Old Mill Park on Riverside Drive in West Liberty. Other featured events include tonight’s Sorghum Bowl high school football game, with the crowning of the sorghum queen at halftime, and a parade at 1 p.m. Saturday.
For more information, call (606) 743-3330 or (606) 743-2300
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
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42nd Morgan Sorghum Festival this weekend
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