Celebrating Fall, Y’all

Fall Y’all organizer Lisa Messer Conley finds herself as shocked as everyone else that the popular fall festival is entering its eighth year this year. 

“I had to check it. I had to go back, just to double check,” Conley said of the festival which she founded in 2017, while serving as Olive Hill Chamber of Commerce president. Since then, the festival has continued to change, grow and expand, adding a variety of vendors and new activities while sticking to three core themes; local vendors and artisans, games and competitions, and live entertainment. 

Conley said they’ve added more vendor spaces this year, to accommodate returning favorites and new vendors. 

“Willie Davis will be back,” Conley noted of the author whose works are based in and around Olive Hill. “He’s coming back again and bringing some books.”

Other vendors will offer woodworking, moss crafts, candles, jellies, preserves, candies, baked goods, soaps, jewelry, and various other items. While there may be some minor overlap, Conley said they’ve worked hard to make sure there’s a wide variety of items on offer. 

“We have a lot of new things coming in this year, which tickles me, because you want a big variety,” she said. “When I was placing vendors, it kind of fell in place. I don’t like to put (similar) vendors together, and there’s such a wide variety that it was like, ‘Well, that was easy.’” 

Community organizations will also be set up, with Meals on Wheels holding a pie-in-the-face fundraiser, the Friends of the Library holding a book sale, Kynect and other community groups hosting informational booths, and First Baptist Church manning a prayer tent.
“We’ve sold over 70 spaces,” Conley noted. “This is the biggest it’s ever been.” 

Musical entertainment will be provided by singer Audra Foltz, worship group Cornerstone, and musician Chad Wolfe. 

But Fall Y’all wouldn’t be Fall Y’all without games, and this year adds some new ones to the mix of returning favorites. For instance, this year folks can play the human fruit machine for a chance at prizes. The concept is similar to a slot machine. On a cue from the player, the human fruit pickers will randomly select a piece of fruit from the options laid out in front of them. Every picker will have the same pool of fruit varieties to pick from and, if two or more of the fruits chosen by the pickers are a match, the player will win a prize. 

While the silly fun of the bed races is out, due to changes to the state route that make it impractical to close Tygart Street, the Family Calling Contest is returning. 

Conley said the combination of volume, creativity, and humor involved in that event make it, like the bed races, just as much fun for the spectators as the participants.

“It’s like the husband calling contests,” she explained. “But you call anybody in your family. It’s not just your husband. Husbands can call wives. Wives can call kids.”

The lady who won last year, she said, had the crowd in stitches with her delivery. The only real rules involved in how you call are keep it family friendly, and you can’t use a microphone – only your natural voice. 

All in all, she said, it’s shaping up to be a good event as they head into their eighth year, and she’s excited to see how the event continues to grow and change in the future. 

Vendor sales begin at 10 a.m. this Saturday, October 5, at the Welcome Center lot located along Railroad Street in downtown Olive Hill, along with kid’s games. Entertainment and other contests get started at 11 a.m., with all events wrapping up by 3 p.m. For more information and schedule of events you can click the Fall Y’all ad online at cartercountytimes.com, or check out their Facebook event for information and updates. 
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com