MAKE WAY FOR ROYALTY … Delta Chicken Festival Princess Kimber Kennedy (left) and Prince Huxtyn Brown (right) pose for a photo after being crowned Thursday evening.
FOOD TRUCK PARADISE … Attendees at the Delta Chicken Festival peruse the variety of midway food truck options Friday evening.
CHICKEN SLINGERS … Volunteer (left to right) Jarrett Miller, Todd Miller, Jason Howard, Bill Shininger, Dave Smithmyer, Larry Coopshaw, and Chuck Zientek take a brief break while dishing out chicken Friday evening at the Delta Chicken Festival.
FULTON COUNTY POULTRY AMBASSADOR … Fulton County Poultry Ambassador Molly Elvey rides in the parade Saturday morning at the Delta Chicken Festival.
(PHOTOS BY JESSE DAVIS / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
STERLENA AND THE JR. QUEEN … Fulton County Jr. Fair Queen Phoebe Oyer is joined by Fulton County Fair resident Sterlena the cow in the parade Saturday morning at the Delta Chicken Festival.
By: Jesse Davis
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jesse@thevillagereporter.com
The annual Delta Chicken Festival brought out thousands over three days despite sometimes inclement weather.
Replete with food, fun, fireworks, and entertainment, this year’s festival was held with the theme of “Defying Gravity,” in a nod to the song of the same name in the musical “Wicked.”
In total, the event’s namesake chicken sale was a success as usual, with 2,900 chicken halves purchased by event-goers. Early estimates put the event’s total attendance between 8,000 and 10,000 across the three days.
“Mother nature cooperated on Thursday and Friday. Obviously, it rained during the festival hours today on Saturday but for a short period of time people did come back to enjoy the festival even after the rain,” festival co-chair Kathy Miller said.
“I had several vendors tell me they did very well at the festival. The most important thing was a lot of people had fun and enjoyed themselves. Miller also shared her appreciation for all the volunteers.
One of the opening events was the crowning of the festival prince and princess, 3-year-old Huxtyn Brown and 4-year-old Kimber Kennedy, respectively.
“It was very exciting when we got the call,” Kimber’s mom Kenzie said. “She has always wanted to be a princess so now she’s got rights to the term.”
“We used to do a Miss Delta pageant and that kind of went by the wayside, so we decided in the last two years that we were going to have a Chicken Festival prince and princess,” Miller said.
“What people do is go to our website … and you sign up your son or daughter to be the prince or princess. Their honor is they get a sash and a crown and the opportunity to be in the Delta Chicken Festival parade.”
Huxtyn said he was excited that he was going to be able to ride in the parade in “a big lift-up truck.”
Other events through the festival included sand volleyball and 3-on-3 basketball tournaments, bingo run by Delta American Legion Post 373, an alumni baseball game, and the Dreamers Car Club annual car, truck, and motorcycle show.
It also included the annual Chicken Run 5K which saw 110 runners complete the course. First place was taken by 18-year-old Konnor Hawkins of Delta, who finished in just 17:38.
Entertainment for the festival’s beer garden came courtesy of Toledo outfit Noisy Neighbors, a Top 40 pop/rock cover band featuring Gina Schultz on lead vocals, Kelsey Borkowski on drums, AJ Reynolds on guitar and vocals, and Bert Noe on bass.
The Friday night fireworks display was sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Eagles 2597 and Auxiliary.