include baby show, pageants, gospel singing

A much anticipated change from the summer-like weather conditions we’ve been enduring in this early fall season is expected to arrive later this week, with much cooler temperatures day and night.

That would bring a nip of fall-like feeling just in time because for Clinton County residents, it’s Foothills Festival time again – our biggest fall party of the year.

For the 39th straight year, we will invite the rest of the world to come to Albany and Clinton County and our small community nestled in the “foothills” of the Appalachian Mountain Chain and enjoy more than a week of planned activities to celebrate the fall season and enjoy some time with friends.

As has been the case since that first celebration 39 years ago, our invitation is headlined with the phrase:

Come See It Our Way!

While the bulk of the events on the 2018 Foothills Festival schedule are slated for next week and weekend for the main schedule dates of Friday and Saturday, October 19 and 20, there are a handful of events that will be held this week and weekend to usher in Foothills XXXIX.

As has long been the tradition, the Clinton County News, in providing our readers with a chance to get an early look at the fun-filled events on this 2018 schedule, is presenting with this issue our annual Foothills Festival Preview.

Chock full of photos from last year’s Foothills Festival happenings that once again packed the Albany streets around the courthouse square, the publication also includes an in-depth look at the main events that will keep us on the move for the entire weekend, including the Friday night signature free concert from one of the most popular bands this area has ever produced – Exile – that will appear on Stage 1, near Albany First Baptist Church.

But while getting ready for the main weekend of fun is the goal of our Foothills Festival Preview, it also allows you to check out this weekend’s (October 13 and 14) pre-Foothills events, namely the Saturday Baby Show and Miss Foothills Beauty Pageants and Sunday’s Foothills Gospel Singing.

The Baby Show gets under way at the Clinton County Learning Center Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., while the Miss Foothills Beauty pageants lineup start, also at the Clinton County Learning Center, at 6:00 p.m.

On Sunday, the long traditional Foothills Gospel Singing will take place beginning at 2:00 p.m., also at the Learning Center.

Next Wednesday, the Clinton County Ministerial Association will sponsor a “Service on the Square” event at Stage 1, again near the Albany First Baptist Church.

From there, the fun moves to the main weekend, next Friday and Saturday, with a lineup of familiar and new events for the main October 19 and 20 schedule, ranging from the lineup of children’s events to Friday’s parade and into Saturday’s car show and arts and crafts booths and, of course, the ever popular Foothills Lip Sync contest, and an expanded lineup of musical entertainers that will be on hand, the upcoming 2018 Foothills Festival has the makings to once again live up the long-time goal of being “bigger and better” than ever.

We hope you enjoy this year’s Foothills Festival Preview special section and find it useful in planning your upcoming fall celebration activities.

Likewise, we hope you reach out to your family, friends and acquaintances, near and far, with the invite to come out to what we all know to be “God’s Country,” and enjoy our annual fall get-together and party – and to come to Albany to …

Come See It Our Way!