By Jamie Strickland
For 75 years, the Clayton Harvest Festival has brought people together in downtown Clayton. The crops, the themes and the attractions have changed, but the tradition has remained the same.
What began in 1951 as a celebration tied to important parts of Clayton’s agricultural and economic history, has grown into an event with 300 vendors that draws more than 30,000 people from Johnston and surrounding counties each year.
The festival has celebrated soybeans, cotton, music, and other pieces of Clayton’s heritage and culture over the decades. There was even a time when a beauty pageant was the main attraction. Today, the vendor fair and carnival rides are the biggest draws for local families, as well as a car show, live performances and a Latin American Festival on the last day of the weekend that shines a light on an important part of Clayton’s growing citizenry.
The festival used to take place each September, until hurricane Florence put a big damper on those plans in the fall of 2018. It was rescheduled for October that year, and has stayed that way ever since.
“That ended up being a blessing in disguise,” said Maria Smith, Director of Events and Operations for the Clayton Chamber of Commerce, who’s in charge of the event nowadays. “People seem to like that a lot better, it’s cooler and more enjoyable at that time of year.”
Putting on an event of this size takes considerably more behind the scenes effort than what visitors see when they arrive downtown.
Smith and a team of volunteers are the driving forces behind those efforts. She works with meticulous attention to detail to coordinate the layout of the event and make sure it runs as smoothly as possible. She and Ann Buskirk, Director of Administrative Support Services, spread out a huge map of the event weeks in advance and pencil in vendor spaces, trying to accommodate everyone’s requests.
“We can’t always make everyone 100 percent happy, but we definitely try our best,” Smith said.
Starting at about 5:30 a.m. on the Saturday of the festival, more than a hundred volunteers contribute their time and energy doing things like measuring out spaces and handling trash disposal.
The work continues throughout the festival, right down to the clock. When the event is over, the streets have to be cleared and reopened to traffic by 6 p.m.
“By that time, you wouldn’t even know that any of this had happened,” Maria said.
That quick transformation is a fitting reflection of the work that happens behind the scenes. Thousands of people may experience the festival as a day of food, shopping, rides and entertainment, but bringing it all together requires the efforts of people who are working long before the crowds arrive and long after they leave.
No sooner than this year’s tables and tents have been packed away and the carnival rides loaded back on their trailers, Smith is already thinking about how to make things even better for the next year.
“We take a little bit of a breather but then you start over for the next year just about as soon as this one’s over,” she said.
Remembering 75 Years
In light of this year’s milestone anniversary, the Chamber has also been looking back as it prepares to celebrate.
Aleisha Gray, Marketing & Communications Specialist, has been researching the festival’s history, digging through local newspaper archives at Clayton’s Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library and collecting old programs, fliers and event profiles from years gone by. The materials tell the story of how the festival has evolved along with Clayton itself.
Change was inevitable over the span of 75 years.
When the festival began in 1951, cotton was an important cash crop in Johnston County. Later, a soybean plant in town took over as a major economic driver. Like many small-town festivals, the Harvest Festival was connected to important parts of the local economy.
Three-quarters of a century later, the festival looks very different. But its purpose remains remarkably familiar: bringing people together.
“This festival brings so much joy to the community, and it’s an honor to uphold the legacy of Clayton’s favorite fall tradition,” said Chamber President and CEO Dana Wooten.
That legacy belongs to more than the Chamber or the people organizing the festival today. It belongs to the generations of Clayton residents who participated, volunteered, competed, performed, sold goods, attended parades and simply showed up.
And as the Chamber prepares to mark 75 years, it wants to hear from some of those people.
Do You Have a Harvest Festival Story?
The Clayton Chamber of Commerce is looking for people who have been part of the Harvest Festival throughout its history. Were you a beauty queen in the 1970s? Does your family have a photograph of your grandfather at the festival in the 1950s? Did you volunteer, participate in an event or have another connection?
The Chamber would like to hear from you and invite past participants to be part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open this year’s festival in October. Contact the Clayton Chamber of Commerce if you have a story, photograph or memory to share. Their goal is to include the people who helped make 75 years of Harvest Festival history possible.
This year’s 4-day festival takes place Oct. 22-25. For more information, visit claytonharvestfestival.com. The Chamber can be reached at marketing@claytonchamber.com or 919-553-6352.
