About 1,400 attend homecoming

About 1,400 people attended the eighth annual Del Reeves Homecoming show at the Sparta Elementary School auditorium last Saturday night.

The event, which featured two shows (one at 2 p.m. and one at 8 p.m.) did not play to the typically packed house of years past. Organizer J.D. Higgins said the lower attendance was to be expected considering recent local and national events.

"It was off some from years past, but I thought it held up pretty well considering the economic situation in the area with all the plants closing and all the stuff that has happened in other parts of the country," Higgins said, referring to the terrorist attacks in Washington, D.C. and New York City. "Overall, it went off pretty well."

The show featured J.D. Crowe and the New South, along with Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time and local performers including Higgins and his band the Country Express, Buford Kegley and others.

Higgins said that concessions at the event were offered by Cora's Charities as a fundraiser. While he did not have totals for that effort, he noted, "I think they did pretty well this year."