Attracting thousands of people every year, the longest-running food-related Oklahoma festival was held on July 12 and 13.
It began on Friday evening with the McLoud Blackberry Festival Pageant and performances by the McTaggert Irish Dancers and Blackwater Smoke.
On Saturday, it continued with the parade along Highway 102 and Main Street. Melanie Krause with the McLoud Chamber of Commerce said, in an email, there were 75 entries in the parade.
The First Baptist Church of McLoud took first place in the parade; second place went to the Sewing Circle Bees of McLoud and the First United Methodist Church; and third place was for Kickapoo Head Start.
Following the parade, there was only one entry in the turtle race, which was held in front of the stage area at McLoud Veterans Memorial Park. Kylan Trail, 5, of McLoud was, therefore, the winner, but still got to see her turtle cross the finish line.
There were also children’s games behind the old church in the park.
In the “Fun City,” young and old could try their hands at dunking Jonathan Raper, the Youth Football Coordinator. The dunk tank raised money for both the Youth Football and Cheer programs.
Also in “Fun City,” there was a variety of inflatables and games for kids including a popular water slide to beat the heat, instead of the usual carnival rides.
“The carnival had to cancel the contract in February due to issues out of our control, and carnivals finalize their routes in the fall,” explained Krause.
We tried hard to find another one that could come (we tried as far away as Ohio and Minnesota) to no avail. They were all booked. We announced it the public as soon as our search was exhausted, and we were just as upset about it as everyone else. We did the best we could given such a difficult situation.”
The McKedy’s Band played after the parade, as well, with several people cutting a rug to the classic country and western swing sound. Unfortunately, the covered wooden bleachers were gone, as was one tree in the food court.
“The covered wooden bleachers were in very bad shape and too dangerous for public use,” said Krause.
It was too expensive for the city to be able to repair or replace them, so we rented bleachers to make sure we had a safe place for people to sit. There are not many trees on the grounds, and several died recently, so those had to be cut down; this includes one of the two trees in the food court.
With our festival being held in July, we always battle the heat, and we do everything we can to keep people safe. We had a heavy presence of first responders, and they had an air-conditioned trailer for emergency cooling.
The American Legion did a shuttle service to get people to their cars to get people out of the heat quicker (any of us with a golf cart would scoop people up as well). We made sure all of the workers had free water available to them at all times, and did anything else we could within reason for an outdoor event held during the peak of summer.”
Krause said they hope to have buildings at the park upgraded for next year’s festival.
“We have a very small group of volunteers who work very hard to put on the festival and it takes all year to plan,” she said. “The McLoud Friends of the Park Foundation applied for and received over $100,000 from Pottawatomie County, thanks to County Commissioner Melissa Dennis, and they also received a few grants.
This has enabled them to start construction of facilities in the park’s new expansion to the south that will be able to accommodate the festival next year! This will provide a new stage, a new concession building, and so much more.
This part of the park has shade nearby provided by many trees, so that will be beneficial, as well. Once construction is finished, all of the facilities will be dedicated to the City of McLoud, and the Foundation hopes to apply for more grants and find other funding to do more stages to this development.”
Besides the McKedy’s, the Luke Haley Band and the Wise Guys provided musical entertainment.
There was a baking contest and a Cobbler Gobbler contest, in addition to a car show with 90 entries. Plus, there were 76 food and craft/merchandise vendors.
The Blackberry Festival Pageant winners were crowned on Saturday evening, and the results are as follows: Blackberry Queen: Addison Adams; Blackberry Princess: Haylee Kimsey; and, Blackberry Jr. Princess: Riley Sherman.
Miss Congeniality (with a unanimous vote): Alivia Scott; Cover Girl (Top Fundraiser): Addison Adams; and, Miss Photogenic, with a tie: Savannah Marsh & Riley Sherman.
Click on the camera below to see more photos from the festival!
