STORY BY TATUM DITTO
The annual Hope Heritage Festival was held on September 7th in the town of Hope, Kansas. Hope, a town on only 368 people, has put on this festival each year since 2001, and it has grown every year since then.
Originally started by the Hope Community Projects Committee, the Festival has grown a tremendous amount since the first festival in 2001 according to Danielle Andrew, one of the Directors for the event.
“Since then [2001] the car show has gone from 15 entries to over 150 entries and growing,” Andrew said. “The parade and events get bigger year by year and new ideas are developed for each festival.”
The festival draws roughly 1000 people each year according to Andrew and patrons look forward to the variety of events the festival has to offer. These include Turtle Races, a miss pin- up contest, the cake-walk, a parade, and live evening entertainment.
“New this year was a Barn Quilt Hunt and a Corn Hole Tournament,” Andrew said. “We try to add new fun things every year.”
The most popular event according to Andrew is tough to discern because of the variety of events, but she thinks the car show is one of the more popular events due to it bringing in a good amount of people from all over Kansas.
“The craft show and Hope Lions Club’s Hog & Turkey Roast after the parade is great too,” she said.
The event is popular with locals, too. Debbie Lorson has been going to the Hope Heritage Festival every year since 2001. She originally heard about the festival from flyers around town and word of mouth as well as an ad in the paper. Lorson said her favorite part of the festival is visiting with people, the parade, and the entertainment at the park.
Andrew also enjoys all the people coming in and out of Hope for the Festival.
“My favorite part is seeing so many people in Hope enjoying the whole day,” Andrew said.
This year’s Hope Festival was another success with the number of people that attended.
Personally, I enjoyed the corn hole tournament and visiting with friends and family I haven’t seen in a while. There were also a ton of cars to see in the car show and the pin-up contest is always enjoyable.
With another year down and next year’s festival less than a year away, Andrew wants to remind everyone how special the festival truly is and to never forget…
“There will always be ‘Hope’ in Kansas.”