ELLERBE – The inaugural Ellerbe Strawberry Festival was a huge success and a happy day in the town of Ellerbe.
The Ellerbe Downtown Merchants Association would like to thank everyone who made the event such a success. Drawing from one of our coordinator’s experience with eleven previous festivals, we estimate our attendance between 2,500 and 3,000 people. We would like to thank the Richmond Observer for being in attendance and helping promote the event.
Generous sponsorships provided the infrastructure we needed to provide a top-shelf event, including a covered entertainment pavilion with seating and a raised stage, sound engineer, talent, portable toilets and sinks, sanitation, insurance, three FREE children’s inflatables and marketing.
In-kind support was provided by the Town of Ellerbe’s maintenance department who worked tirelessly to mow, trim, and beautify downtown. The Ellerbe Fire Department graciously turned over their building for the day, providing a nice shady place to get out of the sun. The Ellerbe Rescue Squad stayed onsite all day, providing a cooling station and being available should anyone need assistance. Ted Futrell kindly loaned the use of his space for tent placement. Riverstreet dismantled part of their fencing to allow access to the shady space beside their business. BB&T provided their entire parking lot to serve as our food court. Dwayne Greene closed his Ellerbe Barber Shop for the day to open his parking lot to vendors. Our Boy Scout/Cub Scout Troop/Pack 92 pulled a wagon all day in the heat, picking up trash and delivering it to the dumpster. The Good Morning Sandhills team did a great job performing master-of-ceremonies duties. In addition to merchandise vendors, churches and civic groups were represented and showed their love for Ellerbe, NC.
Thank you to everyone who came out Saturday. We look forward to the 2nd Ellerbe Strawberry Festival!
Editor’s note: It is the policy of the Richmond Observer to print news release material in its original format, as it was received, with minimal, if any, editorial adjustments.
