The rains went away, the sun came out and the weekend was filled with favorable fall weather, friends, fun and festivities . . . what else could be expected for Clinton County’s premier fall celebration. Last weekend’s 35th Foothills Festival is now in the books, but the memories that were produced will last a lifetime – or at least until the third full weekend of 2015 when we gather around the Albany square to do it all over again.

Before we close the books on this past weekend’s celebration, the Clinton County News is proud to once again present our annual issue that contains the most photographs of any single event held here. This week’s Clinton County News includes a host of photos for one last look back at this 2014 Foothills Festival that was chock full of events, contests and good old fashioned fun and fellowship. Of course we would also like to tip our hats to the group of organizers who spent 12 months putting the plans together for last week’s Foothills, and have already begun making plans for next year’s 36th Foothills Festival. Congratulations on a great job. The scenes on this page of the Clinton County News from last week include the crowd that was on hand (above) at the Saturday afternoon Lip Sync contest on Cumberland Street. With temperatures hovering in the low 60s, jackets and blankets were the norm, but fans came out anyway to enjoy the two-hour long show that traditionally produces the largest single Foothills crowd of the weekend. In fact, Foothills organizers plan on submitting an unofficial count to the Guinness Book of World Records in hopes of getting a representative to make an official Lip Sync crowd count next year. Below, as darkness fell over Albany Friday and Saturday nights, the crowd remaining was treated to plenty of “oohs and aahs” in the skies as a professional fireworks show closed out the Foothills Festival schedule both nights. In the bottom photo, many Foothills fans got an early start to the day’s events Saturday, with the 8:00 a.m. running of the 5K Race, which saw a registration total this year of 185 runners. Levi Owens, wearing bib number 75, had a good race, finishing as the top runner of the morning, crossing the finish line with a time of 18:10. At left, Reed Sloan was one of the most animate and entertaining acts on stage during the Saturday Lip Sync Contest, and he picked up a first place win in the 12-16 age division. Sloan portrayed Billy Joel performing “Only The Good Die Young”.