Published: September 02, 2009 09:31 am      

Plenty of heart for area festival

It starts with heart and winds up offering plenty of fun in the form of an annual community festival now only days away in Maysville.

To be more exact, it’s the 8th annual Wiley Post Festival set to kick off Thursday and go through Saturday.

Busy preparing for her second festival is Meredith Marquard of the Maysville Public Library, which is again serving as the sponsor.

“It takes a lot of time and miles on the road to put this festival together,” Marquard said. “I’ve been out hanging posters and have done a couple of radio interviews.”

All that time is needed to get the various vendors, activities and live entertainment lined up for the annual event that represents something pretty special for the Maysville community and sponsoring library.

Just how important is it?

“It’s very important. It’s kind of their community thing. A lot of heart goes into it.,” Marquard said.

“The library is also very dependent on this festival. That’s what we use to purchase new books with,” she said about the funds raised from the festival.

The three-day event kicks off around 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3 with the showing of an outdoor movie on the corner of Main and Williams streets. The 1935 movie “Air Hawks” features Wiley Post, along with free popcorn and drinks.

That same opening night will also include the start of the festival’s carnival.

It will be on that same spot where Maysville’s First Baptist Church will host a “Jesus Jam” on Friday, Sept. 4, followed on Saturday with vendors of all types setting up booths for the day.

Also featured throughout Saturday is live entertainment. Scheduled to take the stage are Karissa Davis, Joe Slawson, Amber Fisher and Riders Ford set to play at 8 p.m. followed by a street dance.

A new feature is the crowning of a festival queen. It will focus on baking and participants 45 years old and older.

“It’s not a beauty pageant,” Marquard said.

“We’ve asked people to bake one pie and bring it to the library. Whoever bakes the pie that brings in the most money is crowned Mr. Wiley Post,” she said, referring to a silent auction set for 9 a.m. Saturday in the library. The winner will be crowned at 3 p.m.

A helicopter landing will also give festival-goers a chance for a closer look.

“We’ll let kids get inside of the helicopter, put on the head gear and take photos.”

Rounding out the festivities are gunfighter shows and such activities as money in the haystack contests at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.