1st downtown fall fest draws hundreds

Children ‘whipped’ into pie frenzy

Four children were face-down in tin plates, licking and chewing as much apple pie topped with whipped cream as they could. When time was called, it was clear that Moriah Mattix, 10, was the winner in the 6-to-10 age category at Elizabeth City’s first downtown fall festival.

Mattix, with a forehead framed in whipped cream, says she loves pie, especially the apple variety. The student at Camden Intermediate had never been in a pie eating contest before, but she was eager to have a go at it.

“We saw an ad at Muddy’s, and I wanted to do the pie contest, so I entered,” she said.

One of the festival’s organizers and owner of Page After Page bookstore, Susan Hinkle, said she was excited about the success of the first festival hosted by the Elizabeth City Downtown Business and Professional Association. She said attendees were gathering at 9:30 a.m. before the festival opened at 10 a.m.

Organizers estimated that approximately 300 to 400 people visited the 25 festival booths by noon at the RBC Centura parking lot at the corner of Water and Main streets.

A fall atmosphere permeated the booths selling apples, honey, gifts, candy and snacks. Bales of hay with orange and yellow flowers, donated by area businesses, surrounded the white tents downtown. Passersby flitted to and from the various shops hosting sidewalk sales that day. Hinkle hoped residents were doing some Christmas shopping downtown on Saturday.

“There’s something for everybody here,” Hinkle said.

Hinkle said all of the vendors and volunteers were local and wanted to promote the area. She’s a big believer that spending funds locally benefits everyone in the area.

“You got to spend your money where you live if you want to keep your taxes lower,” she said.

The DBPA has developed a slogan with stickers and fliers that says “Live Local, Shop Local.” The association has already planned a winter event for the first week of December called Holiday on the Harbor Week. She is expecting carolers, and various events downtown throughout the week.

Local businesses donated prizes for the contest winners throughout the day and for a door prize given out every half hour. Other contests included a scarecrow stuffing contest, a children’s costume contest and a carved pumpkin contest.

Hinkle said she was impressed with the many ways in which area businesses and residents contributed. Many donated prizes and others volunteered such as the South Mills Volunteer Fire Department and the Elizabeth City State University chapter of Phi Beta Lambda, an educational business society. Festival organizers included Hinkle, Cindy Williams with MMT Printers, Denise Richards with the Downtown Waterfront Market, and Debbie Malenfant, owner of the City Wine Sellar.

“People really stepped out to really try to get people to support the downtown,” Hinkle said.

David Lacasse, a volunteer at First Baptist Church’s honey sales booth, said his group had probably sold about thirty bottles of honey for their youth fundraiser in the first couple hours of the event. The booth was an opportunity for the youth to talk about their activities and mission trips and to raise funds.

The youth had extracted the honey from the hives that Lacasse owns, filtered the honey and placed it into bottles.

Linda Denton, of Elizabeth City, had a couple kids at First Baptist’s booth and competing in the pie contest. She was grateful for the social activity for the kids. Her daughter Kelly Denton, 10, said she generally goes to Virginia for amusement.

“There’s not enough stuff in Elizabeth City for them,” Linda Denton said.