The 2022 Mountain Laurel Festival promised to be the biggest in its 60-year history. So many vendors signed up to participate that the city had to expand the festival beyond the downtown district. Organizers expected 4,000 people to show up for the event and from the looks of it, they did.
The Parade
The big event for the morning was the parade, which began promptly at 10:00 a.m. Both sides of Washington Street were packed with enthusiasts who were bombarded (literally) with an abundance of candy being distributed by every passing group. Four-year-old Caleb kept saying, “It’s raining candy! It’s raining candy.”
The Festival
The Mountain Laurel Festival had more than a hundred booths set up throughout the square and down in a lower parking lot, and even had a plant sale at Mauldin Cottage and Garden. After the parade, hundreds of people crowded into the town square area to shop, eat, and meet up with friends.
The Volunteers for Literacy Duck Race booth was a favorite for many. The local nonprofit holds its annual duck race fundraiser in conjunction with the festival. Volunteers sold race tickets and duck-themed souvenirs at the booth, which featured an imaginative display of decorated rubber ducks. The ‘duck’orations followed a literary theme and were part of VFL’s Dec-A-Duck contest. Festival-goers voted on their favorites. After the duck race on the Soque River, the winners were announced, capping off Saturday’s festival.
