A new festival is coming to New Hope this weekend.
New Hope Strong, a volunteer community events group that formed in December, is hosting the inaugural New Hope Festival on Friday and Saturday at New Hope High School.
Group President Tony Hannah said the festival will include a movie night, a car show, an arts, crafts and food fair, and more.
“People in our community are starving for family-friendly stuff,” Hannah said. “So, that’s why we decided to put it on.”
The festival kicks off on Friday night with a showing of the movie “The Greatest Showman” outside the high school, Hannah said. Attendees can arrive by 6 p.m., while the showing will start at 7:30 p.m. Free popcorn and drinks will be available for the first 200 attendees, while concessions will also be available on site.
The following day, Hannah said, there will be a car show and an arts, crafts and food fair open to the public from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Live music will be ongoing throughout the day, including performances by The Blazers, Brantley Shelton, Mississippi Mason, Christina Alford and Southern Discomfort.
Hannah said he anticipates about 100-150 cars in the car show and about 90 vendors to attend the festival on Friday and Saturday. He said food ranges from hamburgers and hotdogs to catfish plates and homemade ice cream. Other vendors include everything from pottery to baseball cards to personalized gifts.
With the wide variety, Hannah said, there should be “something for everyone.”
“For a first year, this is pretty great,” he said.
New Hope Strong Treasurer Caleb Pounders said the volunteer events group formed after the New Hope community’s annual Christmas tree lighting in December drew in hundreds of attendees, showing the demand for family-friendly events.
Now, three months later, the festival has grown faster than he could have ever anticipated.
“It has been absolutely amazing, all the businesses and business sponsorships, and people who have come to us and said, ‘hey, whatever I can do, just tell me,’” Pounders said. “… And people that have just reached out to us to help. That is essentially how we have been able to hopefully have a successful weekend.”
Currently, Pounders said, the group is not a nonprofit, but it does have a Facebook Page where people can get involved. The plan, he said, is for the group to use any money raised by the events to put toward other events in the future, since all of the members of New Hope Strong are volunteers and are not paid.
Hannah said part of the proceeds raised by the festival will also go back to the New Hope High School band, since the festival is taking place on the band’s practice field.
“Part of the proceeds that we raise will be donated to the band, who is sponsoring us this year,” Hannah said. “The community has given to us and so we want to give back to the community. We’ve got another event coming up in July, and so, we’re just trying to bring people to New Hope that may have never even heard of New Hope.”
While the event is intended to be fun for attendees, and Pounders said he is looking forward to just seeing people enjoy the festival, Hannah said he also hopes the festival draws more people into the area.
“We want people to come out, bring their money, and spend, enjoy New Hope, look around if they’ve never been, and see if they’d love to become a part of New Hope,” Hannah said.
HOW TO GO
■ WHAT: New Hope Festival
■ WHEN: Friday at 6 p.m. & Saturday 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
■ WHERE: New Hope High School
■ MORE INFO: Search Facebook for New Hope Festival
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