BTW Festival begins today

By MARK MAYNARD
The Independent

ASHLAND August 28, 2008 09:02 pm

— An annual festival is in danger of collapsing if it doesn’t get more financial support in the future, organizers say.
The Booker T. Washington Festival, in its 15th year, begins a four-day run today at Dawson Pool, at 600 Central Ave.
“We don’t get donations like we used to get,” said Jimmy Johnson, the festival president. “The city gave us $1,000. We ask for $5,000 every year and never get it. We’re a city event, like Poage Landing Days or anything else.”
Johnson said the city has been good to the event in other areas, but it takes money to put on the festival the way he would like. He estimated attendance ranges from between 200 and 300.
“If we don’t get more (financial) help, this could be it,” he said.
Johnson said community financial support has waned as well.
“We sent out 200 some letters and only got three donations,” he said. “It keeps getting worse and worse.”
Johnson, 70, said the event was started to provide a fun weekend for children whose families couldn’t afford a vacation. The festival provides free inflatables and doesn’t charge for hot dogs and refreshments for children.
“I’d hate to lose this festival because it’s really nice,” he said. “It’s for the poor kids that don’t have the money to go on vacation. That’s why we started it.”
Admission to the festival is one can of food that is given to a local church to feed those less fortunate, he said.
There are several events associated with the festival, including a horseshoe tournament, a basketball tournament and a beauty pageant that crowns queens in six divisions. Entry fee for the pageant is $25.
The festival is named in honor of the Booker T. Washington School that provided education for the blacks in the community until integration came in the 1960s. But Johnson said the festival is for everyone.
“Some people got mad last year because a white girl won the beauty contest instead of a black girl,” Johnson said. “I told them that’s who the judges chose. It’s not a black event or a white event, it’s a city event.
“We sure appreciate the city’s help and it has been helpful in a lot of ways. They do everything we ask them to do, except on the money side. We have a lot of politicians that come down there, too, the past 15 years. We also need their support. I tell them ‘You’ve got our support, now we need your support.’”
MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.