Festival Booth Manager Melissa Noel said, “We’re going to have more booths than ever this year. I’m still seeing about two or three applications per day from people who want to come to the festival. We’re almost out of room.”
Noel said that food vendors would return to the two “food court” areas of the festival, one along Marion Street, and the second at the Cadiz Farmers’ Market on Main Street, beside the Cadiz Baptist Church.
“They’ll be selling all the favorites, a lot of barbecue, pork chops and rib eye sandwiches, funnel cakes, corn dogs, deep fried Coca-Cola and Oreos, and a lot of lemonade shake-ups,” said Noel. She added that new vendors planned to serve Italian ices, sorbet and soft serve ice cream. A local vendor plans to serve Jamaican jerk chicken in West Cadiz Park.
For festival attendees seeking more than food, Noel said that booths will offer ample purses, accessories, a stand to construct a custom stuffed animal, sign-ups for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, leather goods and mobile telephone supplies.
“It’s unusual this year. I think this is the earliest we’ve had the spots in town filled up,” said Noel. “We have a total of 200 booths, and five are still empty at the park. Some vendors use two or three spaces, so we have a total of 170 vendors at the event.”
With more vendors on the road, Noel said that some are looking for a means of income as they work towards their homes. She said that she received applications from North Dakota and Arizona recently.
Other attractions include the World’s tallest pinball table, the Trigg County Diamond Club’s pitching contest, and plenty of crafts, according to Noel. Faced with complaints of an inability to find a ham-and-biscuit at the Ham Festival, she added that the City of Cadiz planned to sell the coveted treats on Friday and Saturday.
Trigg County Ham Festival Committee Member Cindy Sholar said that the Festival offers more than food and booths. “We have Kentucky’s Largest Ham-and-Biscuit sold by the Helping Hands Food Bank on Saturday Morning.” This biscuit once heralded as the largest in the world, and quite possibly the largest edible breakfast ham sandwich is sold by the food bank as a fundraiser.
Not enough ham for you? Read more in The Cadiz Record.
