Thousands attend Hummingbird Festival
Published 9:47 pm Sunday, October 22, 2017
The population of the city of Hogansville probably quadrupled — at least — during this past weekend’s Hummingbird Festival.
Organizers were hoping for a total crowd of around 18,000, although it was hard to say how many people had visited Sunday afternoon. However, it was clear that people came from all over the state to take part in the annual arts and crafts festival in downtown Hogansville.
“Everybody has been so nice and complimentary, and I’ve sold some, so I am happy, happy, happy,” said Dee Lucas, who makes custom made wreaths and had a booth for the first time.
There were more than 200 booths set up over the weekend and vendors sold a variety of items. From Lucas’ wreaths, to kettle corn, paintings, crocheted clothing — there truly was something for everyone.
One of the most unique items were Dorothy and Frank’s Forrester birdhouses. The houses were made out of old shoes and featured a hole for the birds and a roof.
“People love it, we love it and the birds love it,” Dorothy said. “People donate the shoes to us. We go to yard sales. We stop by the road when some kid has thrown out one shoe, we’ll stop out there and get it. We go to thrift stores and flea markets and a lot of people donate.”
They had made the one hour drive from Milner to take part in the weekend festival.
Another item that had people stopping were Angel Eanes witch hats.
“I started wearing them and the more I wore it, the more people asked ‘where did you get that hat?’” said Eanes, of the Autumn Witches Inn. “Everybody I’ve talked to has said ‘I’ve never seen this before.’”
Others just came for the food, which included gigantic turkey legs, shish kebabs, hamburgers and more. Live music was also played and an art show was held for local high school students.
“The town is small but there are so many people that come, and it’s such a range of people,”. said Terry Lipiec, who was selling all kinds of woodwork.
“You’ve got everybody. You’ve got Alabama people, you’ve got Georgia people and sometimes Tennessee people thrown into the mix.”