This past Friday, I began Fun Fest 2006 with the annual Fun Fest Sponsor Breakfast at MeadowView Convention Center. Event sponsors gather at this special event to formally announce the beginning of the summer festival. We share biscuits, coffee, small talk and it’s generally a warm gathering of business leaders and other professionals that begins at 7.30 (yawn) in the morning.
I always enjoying going to this short gathering. It’s casual and a good initiating for the upcoming week of activities. I always take my camera and over the years feel like I have captured some great moments.
Click here to see all the Fun Fest Opening Day Photos.
It’s customary to see a hot air balloon on the lawn of MeadowView and this year it was Wayne Fortney with Rainbow’s End Floral in “Rosie.” It was several years ago, but I recall my first balloon ride in this magenta balloon that was tethered in the morning air. Wayne sparked up the flame for me to gather a few pictures.
One of my favorite things about this annual event is seeing old friends. I’ve been around since the early days of Fun Fest and one of my favorite greetings is always from Doug Tweed. I met Doug several years ago when he was the emcee of Showtime. He was a lawyer then and this community event was a big catalyst for his change of heart. Doug is minister now for St. Mark’s and he ministers to lots of people in our city.
I ran into John Patrick, Bob Lawrence and Don Raines with Citadel broadcasting and we talked tech and shared old radio memories prior to the invocation by Fun Fest chair Roy Harmon. Roy is one of many former Fun Fest chairs and there were plenty others including Doug Tweed, Keith Wilson, David Alley and many others I simply can’t recall.
I enjoyed talking with LeAnne Hughes from King College. She used to work with The Downtown Kingsport and a big supporter of Fun Fest. I grabbed a picture of her with Kingsport Chamber’s Bob Feagins and Brad Hoover.
It was a delight to see Melissa Woods and Clarke Parker in their red Showtime shirts. Showtime is still going strong and Melissa’s smile and zeal for the event is hard to beat.
Most everyone dresses in Fun Fest attire for this event. Lucy Fleming, Kitty Frazier, Nicole Austin and several Fun Fest interns were on hand and I grabbed my Fun Fest mug from the youngest Alley (not sure his name), son of Doug Alley who couldn’t be more than 12.
The Fun Fest Sponsor breakfast doesn’t last very long and everyone was gone by 8.30 and I headed to work myself.
Later in the day, I could see the parade floats lining up outside my office window on Main Street. The Mardi Gras parade is one of the main events that kicks off Fun Fest and although they do throw beads from the stage in front of Glen Bruce Park at noon, I waited till the end of the day to stroll the downtown streets checking out all the floats on Main. Here’s a nice picture of a local church and their kids atop a float in front of the train station.
There are lots of kids, antique cars, tractor trailers, marching bands and other commercial floats in this parade which I believe is one of the longest parades in the state. The parade lines weave a snake-like thread through the downtown streets. Earlier in the day, it’s always amusing to see all of the empty chairs and blankets on Center Street as parade-goers stake their claims early for just the right view.The Kingsport Times-News sponsors the Mardi Gras concert in downtown, so I made my way down Broad Street, picked up a couple of pizza slices from the Chef’s Pizza tent and wandered on to Church Circle to see the parade. There were some amusing moments as the truck with the mannequin heads (representing Kingsport’s Beauty School drove by and it was interesting to see all of the church bands hanging on to their instruments while performing on the back of pickup trucks and flatbeds.
Fred Mattingly is the new advertising director for the Kingsport Times-News. He and his family moved to our city in late Spring from Indiana and I spotted them watching the parade at Church Circle in their bright green t-shirts. They were breaking into Fun Fest with humble beginnings. They were ‘trashbusters’ for the day and seemed amused by the crowds that turn out for this community event.
A special notice was made of all the politicians on the scene too. Some were pulling red wagons and passing out water to the crowds in the heat while others were shaking hands and smiling for everyone along the parade route.
I made my way back down to the stage which sits on Broad Street facing Glen Bruce Park. The streets had been closed for most of the day and Chubby Carrier was checking his microphone. Sure he was Chubby, but his character and smile indicated to me that he loved his music and when he started to play his accordion, the Mardi Gras was about to start.
Chubby played an accordion that had no keys. That was strange to me and asked him later about the instrument and he said, ‘it’s all in the buttons.’ He didn’t know how to play piano, but he sure could make that accordion make you want to dance. He had a guitarist, drummer, bassist and washboard player all ready to go.
Steve Bailey was running sound tonight and we talked for a few minutes about the upcoming Homegrown Showcase on Wednesday and few other comments about the local music scene, but he had the band dialed in and the crowds were starting to gather.
My favorite thing about Fun Fest is getting out with all of the people and running into folks I hardly see anymore. I can’t count the number of conversations I had, but it really makes you appreciate our little home-town at gatherings like this. It’s great to watch the sunset with live music in downtown Kingsport and sharing the night with old friends.
The music was hot, the humidity was high and my long-sleeve shirt was about to roast me, so I took off a little early. I love good creole zydeco music and after a long day on the job and plenty of photos and chit-chat in the streets, I was ready for a cold beer. Fun Fest is pretty conservative on adult beverages and I knew there were plenty of other activities on the street.
Jared Bentley called and we were going to meet up at the Woodstone for Ablazing Grace so a little after nine, I was on the road and Fun Fest 2006 was officially underway. It’s gonna be some kind of week too!