Sweet 16th

June 15, 2009 07:57 am

— Blueberry Festival may have been best yet

By Wendell Snowden
Wow! As I am writing this, the 16th Annual Wellborn Blueberry Festival has been over for seventeen hours. If I may say so myself, it was a huge success, a success for which I give praise to the Suwannee area community and to the members and friends of the Wellborn Community Association. The community deserves thanks for attending through the rainy Friday and returning on Saturday. The WCA members deserve praise for the months of planning the festival and the four days of setting up the grounds, working the event and then coming back for tear-down and clean-up. We had a large number of sponsors and local businesses who helped us with printing and advertising.
We received plenty of compliments for some new signs which were installed a week prior to the festival. These signs are permanent and read, “Welcome to Wellborn, Home of the Blueberry Festival.” They were made possible by our District Four County Commissioner, Billy Maxwell, and rushed through printing by Suwannee County Public Works Director, T. Jerry Sikes, and Lewis Thomas, also of Public Works. Mr. Thomas ordered the signs and had them installed in fourteen days. Every time I pass one of these signs, I smile.
Our very own James Swisher of Suwannee County Transit provided us with the shuttle bus on Saturday. Thank you, James! More thanks go out to the Tourist Development Council; the Sheriff’s Office, who assisted with the parade and nighttime security; and Parks & Recreation for the picnic tables.
I only wish we had a way to count the attendees of the festival. I personally spoke to two people from Miami and one from Atlanta who came strictly for the festival. Some people came from Palm Beach County, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Tampa, St. Petersburg, the Villages and parts of Georgia and Alabama. Rain on Friday slowed us down, but Saturday was perfect. Food vendors and arts and crafts vendors totaled 100. We served 750 pancake breakfasts, and I believe we could have topped 1,000, if not for our electrical failure. The problem hit us about 8:45 am, and was traced to a FPL pole. A thank you goes to Tim Williams who convinced FPL to expedite a truck to the festival to repair the problem, and then brought in his personal generator. Tim also called in an old friend, Jerry Gust, who is an electrical wizard. We apologize to the community for this power failure and will try to not let it happen again.
Even though we purchased more than last year, the Country Store sold out of blueberry pies. Next year, we’ll order more. Cobblers, jam, syrup, muffins and fudge also sold out. One young man who came in late and wanted to purchase a bottle of syrup for his pastor insisted on buying a three-quarters full bottle. Speaking of good things to eat, if you missed the bake-off, shame on you! Some of the best-looking, best-tasting blueberry dishes to be found were right there at our festival. After judging was over, festival attendees purchased large plates of their choices for $3 - a little touch of heaven.
The children’s games were greatly improved and better organized this year as was the parade. Several people commented that we should have a local high school band in the parade. Superintendent of Schools, Jerry Scarborough, assured us that the Suwannee High School Band will be in the 2010 parade. I’m sure all were impressed by the presentation put on by Mr. Scarborough, his staff, and the School Board at the festival. If so, let them know.
Our two-day entertainment program and the youth and adult talent contests were top of the line, and kept the audience riveted to their seats. Our raffle drawing was at 4 p.m. on Saturday, and we gave out $1,000 cash to three lucky winners, all of whom had to be notified since they were not present at the drawing.
In closing, I have to forewarn you that if you plan to participate in the 17th Annual Wellborn Blueberry Festival in 2010, make your plans now (June 4 & 5, 2010). The Wellborn Community Association will meet this week, and we’re already planning changes to improve the festival and bring more attention and tourism to Suwannee County.

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