What was it like to fire a musket? This youngster go the opportunity to find out during The Gathering at Garst.
Ryan Berry | Daily Advocate
The Blue Leafs headlined the Saturday evening concert at the festival.
Ryan Berry | Daily Advocate
Taking a break outside the Soundrels Alley tent. Maybe the man of the cloth was ministering to those inside.
Ryan Berry | Daily Advocate
By Ryan Berry
DailyAdvocate.com
GREENVILLE — The Gathering at Garst is under new management, but there was still a lot of fun and food to be had. Visitors to the Gathering at Garst were able to see a lot of familiar events, hear great music, see great art, take a step back in time at the encampment, and enjoy shopping at great artisan tents.
Saturday morning, at about the same time a parade was coming through downtown Greenville, the start of the annual event could be heard sounding through the streets of Greenville. The encampment’s cannon fire blasted the signal that The Gathering at Garst was in full swing.
After Garst Museum announced that it would give up the annual festival, the Darke County Parks decided they wanted to keep the festival alive and chose to organize the festival. The Parks had long been supporters of the event and always managed the historical encampment. This year, they moved across the street separating Prairie Ridge Meadow from the Garst Museum and scheduled and worked that side also.
Meghan Hammaker, special events coordinator for the Darke County Parks, praised the committee members that been previously part of the festival for helping the Parks everything ready for this year’s event. “Working with the committee I inherited. They are fantastic. They made the transition very easy,” she said. They are going to continually work on the event and may be able to change some of the way things were done in the past.
Robb Clifford, executive director of the Darke County Parks, said, “We are very pleased. We had a fantastic day yesterday (Saturday). Today (Sunday), we’ve got decent weather too.” He said they spoke to the vendors and they were pleased with how the event went this year. “The public I’ve spoken to have seemed to have a great time and enjoyed themselves throughout the day,” he said.
The Parks admittedly did not change a lot this year, but moving forward they want to put their “flare” on the event. Since they have moved away from Prairie Days this year, the Parks want to incorporate some of the events they held at that event into The Gathering at Garst. “Next year we want to sprinkle in some of our Prairie Days stuff. “I was thinking a couple of our kids craft tents and our pioneer Olympic games,” she said.
Clifford also praised Garst Museum for their role in this year’s event. “Garst Museum has been great helping us with this transition, letting us use the facility to set up and allowing for that same feel and that seamless transition,” said Clifford. He is hoping that partnership will continue into the future.
To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected].
