KINGWOOD, W.Va. — Rain or shine the 75th annual Preston County Buckwheat Festival is underway.
After all, it’s tradition.
“We have grandparents and great-grand parents who were involved in some part of the festival and it’s just continued down through history with the next generation,” said Darla Tichenell Moyers. This year, she’s the festival secretary just following in some familiar footsteps.
“Mine started with my mother’s parents in the meat room here. That’s my part of the festival is helping out with making the sausage and everything. Then, my grandmother worked in the french fry stand. So, we’ve been on that end of the festival department.”
The theme for this year’s festival is “75 years – Thanks to Volunteers”.
You’ll find them in the community building where cakes and sausage are served for 13 hours on the Friday and Saturday of the festival. The kitchen along Brown Ave. operates 12 hours on Thursday, the official beginning of the festival, and 8 hours on Sunday.
“We pattied over 36,000 sausage patties for this year’s festival,” Moyers said. “We’ll serve between 10,000 and 12,000 dinners.”
Students have been on the fairgrounds since Tuesday tending to livestock exhibited, judged and later sold at auction.
Next door to the familiar red barn marked Cow Palace, there’s an extension of the fall harvest celebration. It’s the place where bragging rights are earned.
“Over in Memorial North there are several canned good items and I know this year, there are 8 or ten extremely large pumpkins to be seen in the county. It’s been the year of pumpkins,” observed Moyers who is also the festivals arts and crafts chairman.
The festival history books show that late in the Great Depression “local farmers grew buckwheat as an “insurance crop” because of its short growing season and good quality. Involvement varies. But, this year it appears the quilters are representing skills sometimes forgotten.
“I think last year they said we had 38 quilts on display down there. I think there’s over 60 quilts on display this year,” added Moyers.
The festival includes three parades, the Queen Ceres and King Buckwheat coronation, an antique car show and more through Oct. 2.