Austin Heritage Festival Weekend Good Participation & Weather!

by Kris Richards

The 33rd Moses Austin Heritage Festival is in the books and it was a great way to get back to celebrating in ‘Downtown Potosi’.

Friday kicked off with a scavenger hunt and the ‘Hometown Battle’ hosted by Belgrade State Bank in downtown. The games had four teams participate and the competition was fun and good hearted. The scavenger hunt ran the teams around the ‘old Potosi’ area, searching for dates, artifacts and historical information.

The winning team was The I-J ‘Shenanigan Sisters’ with teams from Twin Eagle Lake & Hide Out, H2O Technologies and Randy Barron’s group ‘Beauty Parlor’.

After a historical scavenger hunt, the teams went to the Long-Banta House lawn for some lively ‘team’ games. All the participants had a good time and are ready for next year.

Billy Joe Boyer’s Memorial cruise in and car show had wonderful weather and was set up this year on North Missouri Street from the Courthouse to the St. James Catholic Church. There were 47 vehicles parked and a wide variety for everyone to see. Robin Boyer and family picked their ‘family favorite’ and several awards were given out. The Sonder Starlets performed twice during the evening and music was provided by Scott Marler for the car show.

There were lots of ‘best show ever’, ‘loved the set up’ and ‘we’ll be back next year’. It was great to remember Billy Joe and there where lots of friends and stories during the evening.

Saturday began with vendors setting up and the traditional parade at 11 a.m. There was good participation and with an election year, lots of political candidates represented.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the weather was nice until the pavement heated up in the middle of the afternoon.

There was music by Dustin Coleman and Blackberry Summer at the Courthouse, thanks to the sound by Scott Marler and the stage from Sonder Studio.

At Heritage Park, the bread was baking and it smelled great along the creek bottom. The park was great with a breeze and some shade. There was a big kids’ area with ponies, bounce house, watermelon and more. The Mine au Breton Historical Society had the Four a Pain Oven going full time with a bread line that remained constant throughout the day. La Brigade was represented with a few camp sites and a couple of traders’ blankets out.

Live music was provided throughout the afternoon by Jim Gilliam, Sam Rhodes and the Porch Pickers.

All in all it was a very nice weekend and festival downtown.

From there, we went to the Washington County Fairgrounds and caught up with the Farm Bureau’s Prospect Show. This was the second year for the show, with this year’s being in the evening.

The 4H and FFA were well represented and the evening turned out to be great with temperatures cooling off and everyone having some fun.

The project animals look good and the youth have about a month and a half to get them finished and ready for the sale at the Fair.

Thanks to everyone that helped with the festival! It was great to be back in ‘Downtown’!

Next year’s dates - June 16 & 17.