The Little Mountain Reunion opens this weekend and continues its glory days as “the oldest folk festival in S.C.”
Last year, the event drew up to 10,000 folks, says Reunion President Liz Cumalander.
“We just put on a good festival, I guess,” she says, who began work on the Reunion with other members of the Little Mountain Reunion Association in August, immediately after last year's festival ended.
The town will have great bands, barbecue cooked all night over a pit and plenty to do in the Reunion Park, but again, it's the people that bring the crowds, Cumalander says.
“You see people you don't see everyday or every month, but you see them at the Little Mountain Reunion,” Cumalander says.
The first Little Mountain Reunion was held in 1882 as a Newberry College alumni gathering, says Johnson.
The event continued annually until sometime in the early 40's when WWII began.
In 1976 for a bicentennial celebration, Little Mountaineers initiated the reunion's revival and it has been going strong ever since.
This year's reunion treat is a 30-minute documentary film of interviews with Little Mountain residents and a community history with historic images. The material was gathered during May's History Harvest with the help of a grant and the S.C. Design Arts Partnership.
The film will be shown at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the Little Mountain Elementary School auditorium.
Also scheduled for the reunion is the half-mile parade with around 140 entries, which Johnson says usually lasts an hour and a half.
The reunion will continue to host speeches from political office candidates, an early element of the event that was incorporated to give to politicians a meeting place.
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama were invited.
Additional reunion events include an 8K road race (www.strictlyrunning.com), a mechanical bull-riding contest, amusement rides, over 50 craft vendors and plenty of food.
Bring a chair, but no coolers are allowed, says Cumalander.
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