When the seasonal calendar shifted from summer to fall a couple of weeks ago, the change was not only sudden, but dramatic as well.

Low lying, foggy mornings with temperatures that dipped into the upper 30s as the autumn season began, turned thoughts of local residents to harvests, homecomings and, of course, our annual gathering on the Clinton County Courthouse square, the Foothills Festival.

Foothills Festival 42 is just around the corner and, that cold snap that arrived a couple of weeks ago, sent the surrounding forests and woodlands into a color changing mode that should set the stage for next week’s Foothills Festival with one of the most colorful backdrops we’ve had in several years.

When the hills come alive with the colors of the fall season, it could be directly linked to this year’s Foothills Festival theme. . . Autumn Magic in the Foothills.

Arts and crafts, carnival atmosphere, music, cars, gifts, friends, the best little parade around and, of course, good food and plenty of it, will all once again take center stage when the schedule gets underway with next week’s main portion of the 2022 Foothills Festival schedule.

Leading up to the Friday, October 14, kickoff of the two day Foothills Festival schedule is a night of pageantry this weekend, when a trio of events will be held at the Clinton County Learning Center.

Beginning Saturday morning (registration at 9:00 a.m., pageant at 10:00), the annual Foothills Baby Show will get the 2022 lineup of happenings underway (Additional information, contact Rose Hunter – 606-306-2466).

At 2:00 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.), the Foothills Miraculous Miracle Pageant will showcase contestants of any age who are facing intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities (Contact Stephanie Perkins for more information – 606-6788-1099).

As the day turns to evening, it will be time to crown several Foothills Festival pageant winners with the multi-age-division group of pageants in the annual Foothills Festival Beauty Pageants.

Crowns and titles will be awarded to contestants in five different categories, from ages five through 21, including Prince and Princess, Little Miss, Junior Miss, Teen Miss and Miss Foothills Festival.

Those pageant events get underway at 6:00 p.m., also at the Learning Center (Additional information, contact Rose Hunter – 606-306-2466).

From there, get ready for the main schedule lineup beginning with Thursday’s (October 13) Window Decorating Display contest, and ending with Saturday night’s appearance of the Legacy Band at 7:30 p.m.

In between is a schedule of events, happenings and entertainment that will surely keep all Foothills goers on the move in an attempt to take in yet another “bigger and better” schedule over the two day, Friday and Saturday, main schedule run.

Included in this week’s Clinton County News is our annual Foothills Festival Special Section, chock full of information about the schedule, a summary of what’s in store from this year’s Foothills Festival Committee President Mitch Ferguson, and of course, a host of photos that look back on some of the fun events, attractions and winners that came out of last year’s 2021 Foothills Festival.

We hope you enjoy this special section, and use it to plan your weekend as Albany and Clinton County comes together for our annual fall celebration and homecoming around the courthouse square – and we bid to the world to enjoy our 2022 Foothills Festival, and to . . .

Come See It Our Way!