CAMDEN — The 30th Annual Black Walnut Festival was held this past weekend in Camden. Saturday, Oct. 21 through Sunday, Oct. 22, the festival brought together craft and food vendors to celebrate fall as it has every year since its inception, back when it was referred to as Home Town Holiday.
The festival is always well-attended and features fun for the whole family.
This year, the celebration kicked off with the annual parade, where the Camden/Somers Township Fire and EMS Department served as grand marshals.
Following the parade the Black Walnut Festival Princess was crowned in the gazebo.
There were nine participants this year. The girls were judged on poise and stage presence, overall appearance, speaking well and clearly, and how the girls answered the questions asked.
Madison Combs was crowned 2017 Black Walnut Princess and Kayla Rogers was declared runner-up.
Combs is the daughter of Casey Combs and Aaron Payne. She is in the third grade. Her interests include hanging out with friends and family, taking care of her animals, and riding her four wheeler.
On both Saturday and Sunday there were craft booths, bake sales, food vendors, and entertainment all day long. On Saturday, there was a car and cycle show held. There was chain saw art and Valley Exotics Petting Zoo on both festival days.
While the festival closed at 5 p.m., there was a new attraction which started at 7 p.m.
In addition to having a merchandise booth at the Black Walnut Festival to raise funds for the Bicentennial Celebration in 2018, the Camden Bicentennial Committee offered Camden Haunted Tours on Friday and Saturday evenings.
According to committee chair Karen Moss, “This unique experience includes a wagon journey through the streets of the village where a live narrator shares tales of Camden’s local legends, haunted history, ghostly sightings, and strange happenings. Following the tour, a Camden group, Southern Ohio Supernatural (SOS) conducts an information session on ghost hunting inside the Camden Town Hall.
“The response to our first ever Haunted Tour has been remarkably exciting and several tours sold out! The comments we’ve received are very positive with many people expressing that they had never heard these stories and they loved learning more about the history of their hometown. One of the tour participants, a former Camden resident, traveled all the way from California to attend the Walnut Festival and take the Haunted Tour. She loved it!”
Space is still available for the final tours on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28. For more details, email [email protected] or visit their facebook page CamdenOHBicentennial2018.
