Jessica Taylor, a Pollocksville native , who came home in 2020 to be near family. She is now a Jones County employee for the Board of Elections while lending a hand on other county projects, including the Jones County Heritage Festival. In this episode, host Mary Ann LeRay sits down with Jessica to preview everything happening at this year's festival, from a revived parade to a new family movie night.
Jessica brought her love of parades back to Jones County last year, reviving the Heritage Festival parade after a long hiatus. The comeback drew 45 groups and vehicles, and Jessica wants this year's lineup to be even bigger. She's inviting everyone: school and athletic groups, Scouts, church groups, tractors and farm equipment, emergency vehicles, and local organizations like the Filling Station. The parade steps off at 9 a.m. from the Jones County government complex, and participants who also want to join the Danny Heath Memorial Car Show can roll straight through to the Civic Center.
The conversation also covers the festival's mobile phone photography contest, open to anyone with a smartphone and no fancy camera required, which drew close to 50 entries last year and has supplied the county's social media with local photos ever since. Jessica explains how Heritage Festival bucks, earned through contests like these, work like festival currency that kids and families can spend with vendors on the big day. Add in the Danny Heath Memorial Car Show and a lineup of food from Charburger, barbecue, tacos, funnel cakes and more, and there is plenty to plan for.
New this year is a Friday night family movie event, a mostly free evening with putt putt, a DJ and food trucks on site, designed with families and budgets in mind. The Friday night movie fun runs September 25 from 6 to 10 p.m., and the Saturday festival and parade run September 26 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jessica credits sponsors like Zachus Law Firm and Butterball, along with many volunteers, for making it all possible. As she and Mary Ann note, for a lot of Jones County residents, the Heritage Festival is the one time each year they catch up with neighbors they otherwise rarely see. Find full details and registration at JCHeritageFestival.com and on the festival's Facebook page, and be sure to stop by the Filling Station's vendor booth on festival day.