SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. — The 46th annual Potato Festival began Thursday afternoon in Summersville and will run through the weekend.
The festival honors the county’s heritage of potato farming.
“It was started 46 years ago to celebrate agriculture in Nicholas County,” Marianne Taylor, Executive Director of the Summersville CVB and festival chair. “We celebrate potato farming and tractors, and we continue that tradition to this day.”
For fans of big parades, the Grand Parade will start at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
“It’s usually a really nice parade,” Taylor said. “A lot of floats and a lot of bands. A lot of entries in the parade. It’s a really nice parade.”
Other than the parade, there are a bevy of rides and games for children and adults, a 5K run Saturday morning, a “Potato Idol” talent contest, and live musical entertainment from Bucky Covington and several other acts.
“The Potato Festival is a great time for the community to come together, visit with old friends, make some new friends,” Taylor said. “We get a lot of guests that come to our area to attend our festival. We really appreciate that.”
Friday’s festivities begin around 5 p.m.
“It’ll be a lot of fun,” Taylor said. “We’re going to celebrate potatoes. We’re going to celebrate friendship. We’re going to celebrate community. I just invite everyone to come out.”
It’s expected that between five and seven thousand people will turn out this weekend.