Madison festival ups the ante

The economic impact of Saturday’s 3rd Annual Madison Heritage Festival won’t be clear until merchants tally their monthly totals and people previously unfamiliar with the western Rockingham town return after a favorable first impression.
Nevertheless, the event, helped by a gorgeous fall day, was phenomenally successful. By 11 a.m., Murphy Street was lined with vendors as people visited their booths, stopped into stores and generally soaked in the small-town festival atmosphere. And the crowds continued to fill the streets until well after dark.
The town had an event years ago –Hog Town Hoedown—but it went by the wayside because of lack participation in the planning stages and overall support. A small group of downtown merchants reprised the festival in 2006, but poor weather dissuaded visitors and merchants. Festivals and town events dominate the fall months in Rockingham County. Combine that with the sorry economic state of the country in addition to rain and chilly weather, and the chance of organizing an even moderately successful festival seem to wane.
But the Madison grouped pushed on, and just look at the results. More than 150 vendors took part in this year’s event, easily surpassing participation in past festivals. “This was by far the biggest turnout I’ve ever seen for a festival like this,” said Danny Smith, who owns Flynn Furniture on Murphy Street.
Times are tough, and people are looking for an inexpensive way to spend a day out with the family. Festivals such as Saturday’s, as well as Eden’s Riverfest and several other events throughout the county, provide such an outlet for people to visit with neighbors, get something to eat and listen to live bands.
Riverfest is the county’s premier event mostly because it brings in national headliners, such as country star Trent Tomlinson. But the Heritage Festival this year just upped the ante, and that’s certainly a good thing.