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Thanking the community for a successful MooFest

To the editor,

The proverbial dust has settled, reports have been filed and the results are in — MooFest 2023 can be called a success with over 10,000 in attendance!

And that success is due to the countless weeks, days and hours of planning and implementation on the part of our presenting sponsors, corporate sponsors, 185 vendors, entertainers and Team Moo committee members!

First off, I’d like to give a big moo-out to our AgAvenue presenting sponsors AgCentral, Mayfield Dairy Farms and UT Extension/McMinn County. Special thanks to Julie Walker, AgCentral’s marketing and communications director, Elisha Elliott and Angie Melhorn with Mayfield’s for putting together a great day of tribute to our area dairy farmers and a celebration of 100 years of Mayfield’s world-famous ice cream!

From the milk toast to the fun-filled AgAvenue in Market Park, it was a great way to celebrate our dairy rich heritage in a fun and informative way. Thanks to all the presenting sponsors for providing behind the scenes support that doesn’t always get its due recognition.

A festival is made up of many moving parts and we’re fortunate to have several community groups participating this year. The Athens Lions Club sponsored the 14th annual Moo Run at Eureka Trail with over 50 runners and all proceeds going to vision programs sponsored by the club.

Athens Parks and Recreation sponsored the 28th Annual Soap Box Derby trials, which had 26 cars vying for a chance to compete in the national championship. The Athens Kiwanis Club kicked off the day by serving over 950 hungry patrons and flipping 2,200 pancakes and cooking 150 pounds of sausage, with all proceeds going to children’s programs in our community.

The McMinn County Education Foundation signed up 30 new children for their Imagination Library program and over 1,600 books were given out by the Let’s Read 20 Bus!

A festival of this magnitude is only as good as its committee, and the Friendly City Festival Team Moo group is one of the best when it comes to throwing a party! Their “whatever it takes” attitude certainly made my life easier and putting on a festival a breeze!

Thank you to Joel Webb, Integrity Sound Solutions, for providing sound for both stages. Festivalgoers were certainly entertained by Jim Brooks, Inspirations Dance Studio and Ryder Neeley on the courthouse steps, as well as Raegan Graves, The Twangtown Paramours and Cedar Ridge at Market Pavilion stage.

I can’t thank Scott Bridwell enough for taking on the daunting task of coordinating logistics for MooFest and making everything come off without a hitch. Thanks to parks and rec, Joy Early of the county mayor’s office and public works for coordinating all the moving parts involved with scheduling.

We so appreciate the crew of Democrats — Bill Freeman, Melissa Kelly, David Thomford and Don Powers — for their yeoman effort in keeping trash generated by visitors to a minimum. Hats off to Councilman Larry Eaton for the use of his Gator for trash pick up and manpower and to the McMinn County Sheriff’s Department for the use of their Gator as well.

Special thanks to Grace House for logistical support Saturday afternoon and to David Reed and the county inmate work detail for delivering and picking up tables and chairs.

We gratefully acknowledge Jackie and Todd Newman for letting us store items in their Cherokee Hardware building, public works for coordinating street closings and dumpster delivery and parks and recs for installing the portable electrical panels and delivering the entertainment stage.

Kudos to Breanna Baker and Michael Priest for the countless hours they spent coordinating vendors, spread sheets, maps and vendor check in! Their hands-on expertise certainly made things go smoothly for our vendors and we couldn’t have a festival without them!

Special thanks to Jonathan Womac for making sure vendor check in went smoothly and questions were answered. And, thanks to Leanne Malloy for making sure Friendly City Festival’s website was informative and up to date.

Lisa Dotson, Athens Main Street director, wore many hats, from putting out vendor booth numbers, calming my nerves, assisting at vendor check in and serving as master of ceremonies at the opening ceremony — thank you Lisa for all you do for instilling unity in our community.

I can’t imagine putting on anything without the backup of The Arts Center. Leslie Arnold deserves a round of applause for all the creative marketing magic that gave us a spiffy new look.

Thanks also to all our local businesses that supported the festival by opening for the day and the 185 vendors that added to the festive retail atmosphere.

And many, many thanks for the financial support of our corporate sponsors: The City of Athens, McMinn County Tourism Board, Wolfenden Family Pharmacies, Athens Kiwanis Club, Mayfield Dairy Farms, Tennessee Overhill, Tennessee Arts Commission, Valley Oil, Warren Jackson CPAs, Simmons National Bank, Simmons Trust Department, Citizens National Bank of Sevier County, VEC Customer Shares, DENSO, Starr Regional Medical Center, Dynasty Spas, Humana, The Local Market/H.T. Hackney Co., Oneheart Dojo, EXIT Milestone Realty and Superior Sanitation.

Thanks also to our media sponsors: The Daily Post-Athenian, The Morning Fax, 3 Rivers Radio Group, WCLE, WRCB-Channel 3, WBIR-Channel 10 and WTVC-Channel 9.

As you can see, it truly takes a community in unity to pull off an endeavor such as this and no one does it better than McMinn County and Athens, Tennessee! Join us for the remainder of the Sounds of Summer concert series on Fridays through Aug. 11 and Pumpkintown Saturday, Oct. 14!

Meredith Willson

Friendly City Festivals

The Arts: