By Carmen Lindsey
carmen.lindsey@gaflnews.com
ABBEVILLE— Despite smoke blanketing Wilcox and the surrounding counties, the Ocmulgee Wild Hog Festival was packed with children and adults enjoying a fun filled day.
Arts and crafts booths attracted many people with hand carved chairs, picture frames, homemade candles, homemade bath scents, and even adorable dolls dressed in green and purple. Flower booths also produced attention with bird houses and decorative pots.
The Wilcox County Recreation Dunking booth gave children and adults an opportunity to dunk their favorite or least favorite coach with three throws for $1.
Food vendors were scattered throughout and served hot dogs, cheese fries, snow biz cones, corn on the cobs, ice cold sodas, and BBQ.
The Thunderbird Cloggers of Valdosta tapped on stage for a large audience. The cloggers were Jerry Casey, Lisa Lampert, Anthony Come, Angela Come, and Barbara Nobles.
The Flat Creek Cloggers also tapped on stage. This was their eighth year at the hog festival. They are the oldest active clogging group in Georgia.
The Ocmulgee Antique Tractor & Truck Club with the motto “restoring the past for the future” brought tractors for the public to view and appreciate.
A car show brought many spectators as about 30 antique cars lined the field. Trophies were handed out to the winner of the car show competition between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Kids scaled rock climbs, rode ponies with the help of Rockin’ C Ponies, spun around on the Wizzer, and slid down slides as the temperature rose and the thick smoke began to dissipate.
The D & J Traveling Petting Zoo allowed children and adults to pet Guinea pigs, rabbits, and goats. Donald Earl of ENS Express offered train rides on the red, white, and blue locomotive to children who were looking for some excitement.
Children also participated in wild hog chases with ages 3-12. The winners for the hog chases were Chase Miller, Brittany Peacock, Gage Sharp, Jonathan McCall, Drew Todd, Anthony Sailor, and Jered Foret.
