HANNIBAL – The annual Folklife Festival took place in Hannibal this past weekend. Spanning two days, the festival boasted several booths selling goods, foods, artisans as well as some live music. The picture-perfect weather was ideal for welcoming fall to the area.
Some of the vendors included a soap-maker, Douglas Coggeshall, president of Waterfall Glen Soap Company, LLC, based in Belleville, Ill. got to enjoy his first Folklife Festival.
“I had a marvelous time in Folklife Fest,” Coggeshall said. “I look forward to returning next year. Our sales were very strong because we had returning customers from Steam Punk in September. Folklife Fest was well managed and well attended.”
He briefly explained how he started making soap in his kitchen and recently bought a factory. Over the weekend Coggeshall said despite having a fairly sizable soap collection at his booth, he had twice as much available at the beginning of the festival, proving he sold a lot during his time in Hannibal.
Another vendor, Show Me HH Farms, run by Kent and Kathy Brown, also had a good weekend with their products being sold and recognized. The husband and wife team, were selling bottles of their cold pressed sunflower oil and bars of soap, the oil is also sold by Mississippi Marketplace, located on Main Street in Hannibal.
The family has a farm and produces sunflower oil products with the sunflower seeds being cold pressed on the farm to extract healthy oil. According to Kent, this was their first time attending Folklife Festival with their oil, whereas prior they sold popcorn.
A third vendor, Sheri Grote, does oil paintings on reclaimed wood and pet portraits. This year was Grote’s fifth year as a vendor. Grote, an art teacher at Bowling Green, got involved through friends of hers.
“I mentioned to them that I would like to get involved in festivals,” Grote said. After buying a trailer she started coming to Folklife Festival. This year she was missing one thing “usually I have my pet rabbit,” Grote said.
Michael Gaines, executive director of the Hannibal Arts Council said overall the 74th annual Folklife Festival went very well.
“I think that the festival was successful in many regards – people showed up, vendors were busy and some mentioned having a record sales weekend, downtown business were busy too with brisk business, food vendors and restaurants seem to have lines and the HAC drink booths were amazingly busy,” Gaines said. “It is always humbling to get through the weekend, on the other side of it, and realize just how appreciative we are for everyone who helps make this large-scale festival happen. There are so many partners and volunteers who truly help to pull the Hannibal Folklife Festival off without a hitch. It truly does take a village, or a city in our case.”
The 2024 Folklife Festival will take place Oct. 19-20 in Downtown Hannibal.
