Glade festival in works

By CAROLYN R. WILSON/Correspondent

There’ll be dancing in the street when Glade Spring celebrates Old Railroad Days on July 18, 19 and 20, a three-day celebration organizers hope will become an annual event.
Sponsored by the Glade Spring Volunteer Fire Department, Old Railroad Days will offer the entire family something fun to do, from a kids’ parade to an antique tractor and car show. Old photographs and memorabilia of Glade Spring will be on display in the former Perry grocery store building to highlight the days when the town depended on the railroads.
“It’s a good chance for residents to learn about the history of the town,” said Melissa Dickenson, who is working with the fire department on the event.
Town residents are invited to donate their old photographs and memorabilia of Glade Spring to an ongoing collection for the new library in town.
“Old Railroad Days is another effort to revive the downtown area and to get more people involved in its growth,” said Dickenson, who noticed residents have been busy sprucing up the town this week in anticipation of visitors.
The event kicks off on Friday with bluegrass music from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Music group Acoustic Faith will perform until 11 p.m. Craft and food vendors will exhibit their wares throughout each day.
On Saturday, musical entertainment will continue. Following the Glade Spring Farmers Market opening at 8 a.m., children are invited to join a kids’ parade through town. Parade lineup begins at 9:30 a.m. at Food Country, and the parade will conclude in town square. Children are encouraged to decorate bicycles and wagons or dress in costumes. A volunteer from the Glade Spring Volunteer Fire Department will escort the children into town.
Members of the Glade Spring Police Department and Washington County Sheriff’s Office will conduct fingerprinting of children from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday in the town square.
J.D. Gregory, a member of the town’s fire department, is especially looking forward to the antique tractor and car show from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Glade Spring Middle School. Gregory said as many as 65 antique tractors, some dating back to 1937, will be on exhibit at the show. Tractor owners will travel as far away as Rural Retreat to exhibit at the show. Gregory said the car show is open to anyone who wants to participate. Exhibitors will drive their tractors and cars at 4 p.m. in a parade along Highway 91 to Food Country.
Xtreme Dance Company will perform in town from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the music group Common Ground, which will close the day’s events at 11 p.m.
A cake walk and raffle is scheduled from 8 to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Gregory said prizes include a rifle, generator, pressure washer and tool set.
On Sunday, eight local church choirs will perform gospel music from 1 to 6 p.m.
Dickenson said the Perry grocery store building, the site for the town’s new library, will display old photographs of people and places from the town’s past, as well as railroad items and other memorabilia. A few antiques found upstairs in the building will be sold to help benefit the new library. Dickenson said the new library will also serve as a museum for these old items. She invites people to donate their memorabilia of Glade Spring to the collection.
A jumbo-size checker and chess board measuring 8 feet by 8 feet has been completed near the new library location. Dickenson said town residents donated money to help build the board.
Gregory also appreciates the interest people have taken to improve the downtown area. He said the 33 members of the town’s volunteer fire department, as well as other residents in town, worked hard to organize this new event. The brain child of Old Railroad Days is Betty Wimmer of Glade Spring, who turned to the town’s fire department to organize and sponsor the celebration.