The Alleghany Jubilee Dancers perform during the Mountain Heritage Festival on Saturday. A light rain shower around noon, as evidenced by the umbrellas, did little to slow attendance at the festival. At left: FRESH CIDER—Leland Simons and Eugene Smith grind apples to make cider at the Sparta United Methodist Church on Saturday.

Alleghany Chamber of Commerce director says Attendance at festival up this year

This year's Mountain Heritage Festival was deemed a success by Bob Bamberg, who serves as the executive director of the Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce.

"We got a lot of positive feedback from vendors telling us how they felt appreciated and most of them talked about having good business," Bamberg said. "I think we had stronger sponsor support; we were able to do a lot more advertising. I think it had a lot to do with it." He noted the event was advertised in the Charlotte area, in surrounding newspapers and on the radio.

The annual event took place down the Main Street corridor from the First Baptist Church to the Methodist Church. Visitors were able to peruse the area seeing performances ranging from traditional mountain music to contemporary Christian rock.

The first Possum Queen contest was held Saturday afternoon, featuring the talents of seven contestants.

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