With just four days to go before the opening ceremonies for the 2021 Oktober Heritage Festival in Hohenwald and Lewis County, the question was not will it rain, but how much rain will we get? That question was on everyone's lips the Monday before the event as people sat glued to The Weather Channel and local news weather stations as each day showed green with amounts of rain ranging from 50% per day to 90%. People battened down the hatches expecting the worst.

True to their word, it did rain, in fact by the end of Wednesday evening the town and surrounding areas had swallowed up over three inches of rain.

And then it stopped. It was hard to walk around Robert Shirley's field at the bathtub shop on Summertown Highway which was, as usual, filled with vendors. But slowly it started to dry out. No rain. Just more people trying to set up booths.

Thursday brought no rain and the ground started to dry out. The weather man/woman was wrong (surprise, surprise) and the sun actually came out.

By Friday morning, the opening ceremonies on Main Street took place without a cloud in the sky. And for the rest of the weekend it was glorious weather, with crowds of people trying to forget Covid 19 woes. And if you thought you could drive down Summertown Highway in a few minutes, forget it! Try close to an hour to drive less than a mile. But it was well worth it just to see people's smiling faces.

Graham Kilsby

Chamber of Commerce Director Debbie Landers, Lewis County Public Library librarian Crystal Nash, City of Hohenwald Mayor Danny McKnight and County Mayor Jonah Keltner should be proud of what was accomplished. Thanks should go to our local law enforcement, first responders, and to the city trash collectors who did such an amazing job late Saturday night through Sunday morning clearing up the trash and litter left behind.