Kerens celebrates Cotton Harvest Festival
Oct. 21—Kerens hosted its 17th Annual Cotton Harvest Festival Saturday downtown. The all-day festival featured a chili cook off, quilt show, raffles, children's games and rides, live entertainment all day with an evening street concert, arts and crafts and food booths.
The festival recalls a time when, each autumn the cotton crop was gathered and culminated months of work and worry for area farmers and their employees. Until recently, the cotton crop was the main source of income for Kerens folks.
Fall meant cotton picking time; the three gins were running, people had a job and they had money in their pockets. After a week of hard hot work, Saturday was the day to come to town, see your friends, sample some special treats and have some fun.
Well, those days are gone. Cotton is harvested mechanically. There is only one nearby operating gin. People earn their living at jobs in town rather than picking cotton in the country.
The Kerens Cotton Harvest Festival relives the excitement of those long ago Saturdays. The red brick main street once again comes alive with some of the old folks, some new folks, some city folks, but all folks looking to have a good time.
All festival proceeds go to Friends of the Kerens Library.
For more information, visit kerenscottonharvestfestival.com. Or call 903-396-2665.
