LEXINGTON — Lexington will be painting the town blue this weekend with the return of the annual Lexington Blueberry Festival.
From Aug. 16 through 19, the 16th annual festival will feature kids’ activities, live entertainment, and of course, blueberries. In fact, the food is the favorite feature of festival treasurer and grounds coordinator, Brian H. Moore.
“It’s only been the last three or four years that we required the food vendors to have a blueberry item,” Moore noted. “It’s going to be bigger and better this year.”
The festival offers rides, vendors, locally-made crafts and a variety of blueberry foods. It also features a 5K run, themed Thursday evening parade, Miss Blueberry pageants, children’s blueberry games, fireworks Saturday and a final parade Sunday.
According to Amber Cleland, director of the Miss Blueberry pageants, there are currently 65 entries into Sunday’s parade with at least 1,000 people expected to walk.
A couple of new attractions are coming to the festival this year. On Saturday, prehistoric creatures will be roaming Community Park as part of “Dino-ROAR.” Seven different dinosaurs will be performing educational shows at 1, 3 and 5 p.m.
Another new attraction is helicopter rides, starting at the north end of the park’s baseball field. According to Moore, a five-minute ride will cost $35.
Two new children’s activities accompany this year’s Blueberry Festival. A chalk mural contest will take place on the basketball courts, where judges will decide who has the best mural. Cleland added that a royal princess party will take place on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. including a singalong with Cinderella and Jasmine.
Cleland’s biggest event, however, is the Miss Blueberry pageants that take place on Aug. 16 and 17. Currently 38 girls ages 7 to 16 will compete in the Aug. 16 pageant, while 50 girls ages 1 to 6 are signed up to compete in the Aug. 17 pageant.
The pageants will take place at Heartland Church, while the winner will be crowned at 7:15 p.m. on the festival’s main stage. Pageant participants will each give a personal introduction and be asked an age-appropriate question as part of the competition.
According to Cleland, participation in the pageants have doubled in the past four years.
“We want it to be an entry-level pageant and for them to feel confident getting up on stage in front of people,” Cleland said. “Last year’s Little Miss Blueberry was this shy, quiet girl and she has really come out of her shell and she’s not afraid to talk to people now. It builds their confidence.”
For more information about the Lexington Blueberry Festival, visit www.lexblueberryfest.com.
