The Columbus County Arts
Council gallery, at 822 S. Madison
St., Whiteville, will be the
site of the N.C. Pecan Harvest
Festival’s opening event at 7
this evening.
The public is invited to
come speak with Festival
Queen Kathryn Ogden and Parade
Grand Marshal Vic Ward.
Ogden is a singer-songwriter,
teacher and painter who
recently returned to Whiteville
after 20 years in Virginia.
Ward, who became a N.C. State
Highway Patrol trooper in
1990, has steadily advanced to
positions of greater responsibility
connected with public
safety and homeland security.
In February, Ward was appointed
Deputy Commander
of the SHP (Lieutenant Colonel)
by Governor Roy Cooper.
A new art exhibit will also
be open to the public for the
first time, featuring oil paintings
by Ogden alongside nature
photos by Anne Grimes.
Friday
Ogden will be officially presented
as Queen, along with a
court of six Pecan Belles, in
a ceremony at Vineland Station
at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow. A
catered luncheon will follow
for those who have already
purchased wristbands.
Between 1 and 4 p.m., visitors
may tour four homes in
uptown Whiteville, as well as
the arts council gallery and
the Reuben Brown House at
128 E. Columbus St. Tour-only
wristbands will be sold at the
Reuben Brown House for $10.
Saturday Morning
Saturday’s fun begins early,
as classic car owners will
begin to set up on Madison
Street at 8 a.m. and vendors
will be opening booths soon
thereafter.
At 10 a.m., the Nutty Parade
will emerge from Whiteville
High School, traveling downtown,
with Ward in the Grand
Marshal’s car.
Children’s activities, the
tractor/boat show and the art
exhibit all begin at 10 a.m.
The science museum’s Native
American culture program
will run from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m., with historical talks and
dance demonstrations by the
Waccamaw Siouan Princesses,
who serve as cultural ambassadors
for "the People of the
Fallen Star.” The Princesses
will demonstrate traditional
crafts and lead museum visitors
in creating their own clay pinch-pots and cornhusk dolls
to take home.
The public may enter Vineland
Station between 1 and
2 p.m. to see cooking contest
displays. Winners will be announced
from the stage.
Homecoming on the Main
Street Stage
Musical entertainment
will begin at noon. The popular
Black Water Rhythm
and Blues Band will provide
dance-worthy classic beach
music, blues and funk until
2 p.m.
Black Water R&B was
founded by Clarkton trombonist
and vocalist Dale Edwards
in 2010 and has involved a
rotating cast of players from
Columbus County and surrounding
areas. Keyboard
player William Sellers lives
"just outside Whiteville,” Edwards
said. The band was recently
heard at Taste of Tabor,
and they played at a Live after
Five gathering in Whiteville
this summer.
"We don’t get to play in
Whiteville as much as we
used to,” Edwards said. As
the band’s reputation has
grown, so has their traveling
schedule. After packing up
from the festival performance,
the band will head to Scotland
County to play for a hospital
fundraiser gala that will last
until at least midnight. "We’re
gone a lot. Be careful what you
wish for,” said Edwards.
The band members have
played for some events that felt
"like pulling teeth,” Edwards
said, because the audience sat
far away and did not visibly
respond to the music. They
like to play events such as the
Pecan Harvest Festival, where
audience members set up
chairs near the stage and get
up to dance to their favorite
numbers.
After 2 p.m., two other local
favorites will perform. Krystal
Kella Hawkins is a solo vocalist
with a growing following
and a third CD in the works.
"I do mostly jazzy stuff and
I want to do something that
older and younger people will
enjoy,” she said in an interview
that will appear in
954
Magazine later this month.
Hawkins has shows scheduled
in Wilmington and Raleigh
as well as at the Cape
Fear Winery, where she works
as a waitress. A large crowd
showed up for her first Whiteville
appearance at The Chef
and the Frog a few months ago.
Festival queen and "down
home girl” Kathryn Ogden
may exchange her tiara for
a cowgirl hat when she sings
with the Kathryn-Izzy-Evan-and-Travis ensemble, which
showcases a variety of "Americana”
genres.
Ogden "could not be happier”
to return to her hometown,
bringing her talented
daughter and son with her, she
said. Her fondness for smalltown
living and family values
shines through in her music,
both original and classic.
Keeping everything moving
on schedule will be master of
ceremonies Jared Worthington.
The elementary school
principal, whose talents are
more suited to the kickball
field than to the stage, will do
his best not to sing. He said,
however, "I’m working on
some things” to add his own
twist to the entertainment.
"You’ll just have to be there to
see,” he said.
