PARKSLEY, Va. (Delmarva Now) — Parksley officials are hard at work on plans for a fall festival that will revive a popular event that the town sponsored for years in the past.
The townwide festival will be on Saturday, Oct. 6.
The town formerly had both a Spring and a Fall Festival, with the spring event the first one to happen.
"It started in 1976, originally, to celebrate the Bicentennial," said longtime town council member Frank Russell.
Russell for years headed up the town's festival planning. After around a decade, Melvin Shreves, who moved to Parksley and became owner of the town's hardware store, joined in the work.
It was Shreves who pushed for a second town festival in the fall, which took place for around 10 years.
"It started out as a 1950s festival ... Everybody would dress up in 1950s clothes and we had '50s music and 1950s cars," Russell said, adding, "We used to be a big deal; we always had car shows, we had motorcycle shows, we had helicopter rides, we had hot-air balloon rides — we had a lot of stuff here for about 10 years. It took me all year long, back then, to plan the next one."
Carnival rides, Civil War re-enactors, antique tractors and even a huge tug-of-war were part of the festivities back then, along with the traditional festival kick-off event — a 5K run, Russell said.
"We had crazy things ... One year we had a lady out there with reptiles," he said, adding, "...We would have 12,000 to 15,000 people at these festivals."
The festivals were a way of "bringing the community together," said Julie Nash, a psychology instructor at Eastern Shore Community College who moved to Parksley from Florida last year and who also serves on the town council.
After Shreves died, the Parksley fall festival continued for a couple more years, but eventually, it was discontinued as the number of volunteers dwindled, Russell said.
The two town council members say the time is right to revive the fall event — with the regional library moving to town, new businesses opening up, a new war memorial and other recent positive developments.
"We're seeing people moving into town ... and the Realtors tell me they are getting more people asking about property in Parksley than they have had in many, many years," Russell said, adding, "People just seem to be starting to get a little excited about the town again."
Nash said when she first moved to Parksley and started attending town meetings, they were sparsely attended.
"And then, as time went on and we started to get a little more excited and talk about things around town, and then I got on the council — and now, that place is packed. There's standing room only at our meetings every month — It's wonderful," Nash said, adding, "People are really getting on fire, and I love seeing it."
The festival in part will celebrate that revival.
"We just want to do something to bring people into town again," Russell said.
The festival also will celebrate the town's railroad heritage.
"The thing that's cool about Parksley is that at one time it was quite the town in Accomack. It was the first one to have electricity. One of the main railroad stops of all the stops was here, and it was just such a thriving, wealthy town," Nash said.
She describes Parksley today as "a hallmark town."
"This is the place you want to come to vacation — you know, you can have the quiet, the peace, the tranquility — and things to do. It's not 30 or 40 minutes to Chincoteague — it's a great location," Nash said, adding one of the main things that attracted her to move to Parksley rather than another town in Accomack County is its town square.
"It's the kind of thing that brings community together," she said.
Among activities honoring the town's railroad history that festivalgoers can enjoy on Oct. 6 will be model train displays and the Eastern Shore Railway Museum.
"We want this to be mostly free — it's come, have fun," Nash said.
Officials also plan to bring back popular activities from past festivals, including carriage rides, a car show and more.
"We are adding things every day," Russell said. This time around, Parksley also is inviting several other Eastern Shore towns — including Onley, Onancock and Bloxom — to take part in the festival, he said.
One activity in the works that likely will be popular is a strongman competition, "where we get all the guys out there and drive a railroad spike into a railroad tie," Russell said, adding officials are hoping to get different law enforcement agencies to compete against each other.
Additionally, Grace United Methodist Church will hold its fall bazaar the same day as the festival, Russell said, noting, "That always brings a lot of people into town."
He summed up the Parksley festival initiative this way:
"There seems to be an excitement about Parksley now that hasn't been here for a few years ... With the new businesses in town, you just want to do something to get people into town and let them see what we've got."
