Heritage Days in Frankton brings community together

Sep. 19—FRANKTON — For the thousands of people who converged on the town over the weekend, the annual Heritage Days festival was a chance to reconnect with old friends and enjoy a variety of family-centered activities.

For Shawna Muse and members of her extended family, the weekend also represented an opportunity to make a little money.

Muse has hosted one of the largest garage and yard sales held in conjunction with the festival for nearly 20 years. On Saturday, she watched bargain hunters browse through clothing, housewares and small electronics placed neatly on tables organized into a half dozen long rows in her driveway. By late that morning, she estimated her yard sale had brought in nearly $1,500 over two days.

"It's me and my mom, my dad, my aunt, my brother and my son," who contribute to the inventory, Muse said. "It's all of our things put together."

Muse, a Frankton native, said she hadn't made it to many of this year's main festival events because of her sale but, having taught at Frankton Elementary School for 16 years, she still sees many of her former students on Heritage Days weekend.

"It's nice because you get to see a lot of people that you don't get to see that come back for the festival," she said. "We get to see people that we haven't seen for years because they do come back to the small hometown festival. It's just a lot of reminiscing and a lot of fun."

The festival's signature parade Saturday morning was also a chance for the town's residents to express appreciation for the service of local members of the military.

"It's something that we all get together and we're one community and we're like a family," said Joy Akers after taking some photos in the staging area before the start of the parade. "It's just something special to all of us."

Akers' son Caleb took part in the parade not long after returning from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Regardless of her political views on the decision to completely withdraw U.S. forces from the war-torn country, Joy Akers said she's grateful to enjoy being with her son for a season before he ships out for another assignment in Kosovo next year.

"I just have to pray every day that God's going to keep him safe and bring him home," she said. "Being a mom of a soldier is hard."

Tiffany Hudson, a first responder who lives in Anderson, returned to her hometown to drive a float carrying Tosha Tomlinson, who was named the festival's "Sweetheart Queen."

"It means a lot to be able to come back here and do something with my kids that we did as family growing up," Hudson said. "It's a little scary for some people, but I'm glad we're able to come back out and still do this and be outside."

Follow Andy Knight on Twitter @Andrew_J_Knight, or call 765-640-4809.