Monday, March 19, 2007

Ayden's festival to be the 'official' collards festival

There are several festivals in North Carolina honoring collard greens, but it looks like Ayden's might become the "official" one.

"North Carolina already has three official state festivals: the Hertford County Watermelon Festival, the Fair Bluff Watermelon Festival and Folkmoot USA in Waynesville as the official international festival," says the Asheville Citizen-Times.

"The N.C. Apple Festival in Hendersonville could make a similar move [as Ayden]. The festival occurs every Labor Day weekend and is now in its 61st year. But no one knows whether it’s recognized as an official festival." It should be noted that "[n]ot all festivals are rushing toward state recognition.

"The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will probably not seek official state designation for its Ramp It Up Festival, which starts March 31 to coincide with the start of the trout season, said Phil Werz, festival spokesman."

The article talks about the economic impact of festivals in the state. Asheville's Bele Chere brought in about $12 million and 167,000 people to the mountains in 2005. The N.C. Apple Festival impacts Henderson County with more than $25 million.

"Ayden Collard Festival organizers said they hoped visitors would do more than just visit the town, which is a suburb of Greenville, N.C.

" 'We’re hoping if we get people coming from all over the place, maybe they’ll want to live here,' said Joe Echel, the festival’s vendor committee chairman. 'It’s a nice place for people to live and start a business.' ..."

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