By: Scott McLendon

The 24th installment of Glenwood’s Festival at the Well was met with showers, but the precipitation didn’t dampen the celebration’s morale or its attendance. The christening of the festival met with no interference from the rain as the procession of cars and tractors old and new paraded through the roadways of Glenwood.

It was estimated that around 500 people made the trek to this year’s edition of the festival. That number is well over twice that of the population of Glenwood. The revenue collected from those hundreds of entrants goes to the scholarship fund and to help aesthetically improve the well and town.

“We started out with just arts and crafts and some entertainment in our first Festival at the Well,” said board member Sherry McSwean. “The next year we had a children’s beauty pageant added to it so we’ve added events to make it what it is today. We were able to pay for the scholarships and the rain didn’t help this year since the vendors had to leave eventually due to the weather, but we still had the street dance that night. They couldn’t dance in the streets, but were able to dance under the pavilion on the stage. The street dance at night is another popular thing we’ve added along the way.”

This year’s scholarship recipients were: Railey Elle Ayers (Crenshaw Christian Academy), Steven Cade Curtis (Charles Henderson HS), Jackson Caleb Holloway (Luverne HS), Anna Hughes (Brantley HS), Anna Leigh Johnson(Crenshaw Christian Academy), Savannah Hollis Jones (Luverne HS), Sarah Ann Killingsworth(Zion Chapel HS), Spencer Deran London (Brantley HS), Payton Kendall Owens(Luverne HS), Hunter Blake Stallings (Luverne HS), Charleston David Tisdale (Charles Henderson HS).

This year marked the first doggy costume contest. Three categories were offered to contestants including: best owner and dog costume combination, most creative dog costume and best dog costume overall.

First prize for best overall costume was awarded to a service basset hound by the name of Piglet and her owner Faye Finney. The employed

Piglet also snagged first prize for the most creative costume. Best combination costume was awarded to the tiny matador named Bama Lou. To further the display of domesticated animals, a petting zoo was offered and snagged the attention of young passersby.

“We would really like more participation in the coming years, but there are lots of conflicts this time of year with graduations and people going out of town to them. We had a decent crowd according to weather. We’re just a little bitty town of less than 300 people and the people in the surrounding communities around Glenwood help to put it on.

“The fire department does the meal every year, cooking barbeque to raise money for them.”

All of our proceeds go to the scholarships and the beautification of the well. This year, 11 high school seniors from schools in and around Crenshaw County were given scholarships valued at $500 each.

“Over the years we’ve been able to put pavilions up around the well,” said McSwean. “We’ve been able to keep up the well and we’ve gotten a pump to make the well flow continuously since the water level varies season to season. We’ve been able to do these little improvements thanks to the festival.”