Colonel Fest a success in Corbin

Apr. 23—CORBIN — Main Street in downtown Corbin was home to the fourth annual Colonel Fest this weekend, providing members of the community with the opportunity to celebrate Corbin's unique place in history as the home of the original KFC and its founder, Harland Sanders.

Friday night, the Finger Lickin' Chicken .5K race was held as the prelude to Saturday morning's 10K — moved from November to be incorporated into Colonel Fest.

The .5K had the thematically appropriate stipulation that one must consume an entire piece of KFC chicken before heading back to the finish line.

12-year-old Mason Hutton of Corbin won the race, eating his chicken and returning to the finish line faster than anyone else.

He was given a medal for his efforts.

On an unusually cold Saturday morning, 108 runners lined up for the commencement of the Colonel Sanders 10K race.

The race took runners across Downtown Corbin via Fourth, Fifth, and Master streets.

Runners were equipped with an electronic tracking device which accurately measured their race time.

Ultimately, Ben Prewitt won the race with a time of 36:01.

Fourteen runners finished with times below 50:00, including a runner named "George the Chicken" who dressed up as a chicken in honor of the event.

Also at the weekend's festivities were the wares of more than 40 vendors, a petting zoo, performances from musicians, a reptile show, and more.

All in all, the event was well attended and denoted another successful downtown event orchestrated by the Tourism and Convention Commission along with former Tourism Director Maggy Monhollen, who was present at the event as her "last hoorah" for Downtown Corbin before fully transitioning into her new position as Manager of Cumberland Falls State Park.

Monhollen had this to say about the event: "Colonel Fest was a huge success this year! The community came together and really enjoyed all the activities the festival had to offer. We would like to thank everyone involved in making this event possible."