The 41st Annual Black Gold Festival was held Sept. 15 through Sept. 17 in Hazard, bringing crowds in for food, music and fun.
Hundreds of people from across the region gathered in downtown Hazard to celebrate the 41st annual Black Gold Festival. The festival, which featured a variety of food and craft vendors, activities and music options, was held from Sept. 15-17.
Several new and returning attractions and activities were available for festival-goers. Among the returning acts were the free tethered hot air balloon rides by Re/max Legacy Group, free inflatables, Fun Land, free train rides, the Mark Comley Magic Show and the Kiwanis Karnival. Some of the new additions to this year’s festival included the Farmer’s Market being set up, a health fair and ax throwing contests.
Each of these, along with the food and craft vendors, said the planning committee, reported being pleased with how the festival went, and many said they would like to return for future events.
This year, event organizers said the festival was one of their best yet and drew in large crowds each night.
“Every year everybody says it was the best one or it was a good one. It probably actually was the best one we’ve had in 10 years or so. We were very blessed with a lot of support so we could do more this year and we had wonderful entertainment,” said Terry Feltner, chair of the Black Gold Planning Committee. “We had a lot of food booths, our craft tent was full. People were ready, I think, to come, to get out and do something and get their minds off of everything that went on the last two years.”
The health fair was held at the Farmer’s Market Pavilion and was sponsored by WellCare. Between eight and ten entities participated in the health fair, including: Primary Care Center, Mountain Comprehensive Care, Kentucky Homeplace Clinic, Good Measures, UK Dental Center, ARC, the Heuser Hearing Institute and the Kentucky Cancer Program. Free screenings and free vaccines were available during the health fair, and there was help offered for hearing aids and eyeglasses. More than 150 vaccinations were administered during the health fair.
The parade was also very successful, she said.
The Black Gold Festival parade was held on Saturday, Sept. 17, starting at the old Food Fair parking lot on East Main Street and featured approximately 60 units. Four famous characters — Spider-Man, Baby Shark, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse — rode in the parade and then took pictures with children after the parade inside the Hazard Coffee Company. The Backwudz Vipers were the parade marshal because of all they do for the community, and the grand marshal was Dale Hanlon, his wife Anna and their organization Feed the Streets because of everything they do to help the homeless population, said Feltner. The end of the parade was brought up by the Trail Hazard Jeep Club.
“Our parade was awesome, it was one of the best parades we’ve had,” said Feltner.
This year’s entertainment options were also successful, said Feltner.
“We had an awesome turnout. Thursday night at the concert it (the crowd) was usually what our Saturday night crowd was. We just couldn’t believe how many people were down there,” Feltner said.
On Friday night the attendance increased, she said, and then on Saturday they were “bumper to bumper” with people.
“I don’t believe we could have put 10 more people in that crowd,” said Feltner.
The music lineup for Thursday, Sept. 15, included the Hazard High School Chorus, Mending Hearts, the Children’s House Montessori, the Lucas Family Gospel, Kentucky Music Mafia and Midlife Crisis. Friday’s performances included music by Unchained, Carlee Whitaker, Travis Napier, Tyra Madison and Ernest. Megan Creech, Kelli Carey, the Potters House, Middle Fork Grass, Corey Martin, the Backwudz Band and 2022 American Idol winner Noah Thompson performed Saturday’s music.
The Black Gold Planning Committee, said Feltner, tried to keep most of the festival free for people in attendance, and their sponsors helped a lot in achieving this. Sponsors of this year’s festival included Dajcor, Hazard-Perry County Tourism, the Perry County Fiscal Court, Perry Distributors, WellCare, the City of Hazard, Appalachian Wireless, Perry County Ambulance, Sykes, Backwudz Vipers, Community Trust Bank, Peoples Bank and Trust, Windstream, Tim Short Auto Group and the Perry County Public Library.
Thanks to the sponsors, festival guests, she said, only had to pay for crafts, food and a few activities.
“We were just blessed and we don’t take that lightly,” said Feltner. “We definitely appreciate everything that all our sponsors did. They were so nice to step up.”
The festival committee, said Feltner, is already planning for next year’s Black Gold.
Feltner said the committee hopes more people will become involved and will interact with their Facebook page, taking advantage of the voting opportunities to determine which acts the community would be interested in. “If the community feels like it has buy-in in the festival itself then they’re going to be more apt to attend,” said Feltner.
To help with planning a successful festival for next year, the community is encouraged to donate and show support. Donations can be made and mailed to the Black Gold Committee at P.O. Box 1417, Hazard, KY 41702.
“It’s going to be hard to top this festival,” said Feltner.
