A long-running Eastern Kentucky festival has returned after missing two years due to COVID concerns. The Kentucky Apple Festival in Paintsville is nearly 60 years old and tens of thousands are expected to attend the 2-day event.
Over the years the Kentucky Apple Festival has grown into a major tourist draw for the region. One year organizers saw 46 different states and six foreign countries represented at the festival.
Nearly 60 years ago local farmers started giving away apples on the streets of Paintsville. In later years events were added and an annual festival was born.
"Funnel cakes, funnel cakes, get your funnel cakes," shouts Jimmy Wright of the Oil Springs Volunteer Fire Department.
The department is one of more than a hundred vendors at the festival. For more than 20 years they have sold funnel cakes, raising between $7,000 and $9,000.
"All the money and proceeds go back to the community," Wright said. "It buys gasoline, food carts, kids gifts at Christmas. It's a huge fundraiser for Oil Springs."
In 2020 and 2021 there was no Kentucky Apple Festival due to COVID concerns.
"We suffered a lot," Wright recalled. "We've taken money out of our own tills that we receive money for and use that to support, but that is limited funding so this festival here. The booth selling the funnel cakes is the primary source for what we do."
Ray Tosti serves as chairman of the festival. Tosti said commercial food vendors are not allowed at the event.
"We're here to help the non-profit organizations in Johnson County and adjoining counties," Tosti told Eyewitness News. "The festival is like a giant homecoming community event. You don't come home for Father's Day, Mother's Day or Fourth of July or Labor Day. You come home apple festival weekend."
By limiting vendors to local groups, Tosti said money stays local for local projects. Still, the area has received an economic boost from the visitors that have come to the festival for 58 years.
Organizers are expecting between 30,000 and 40,000 people during the two-day event, weather permitting.