National Road Festival celebrates Route 40, communities along it
Photos: Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Crafts were available at the Claysville Community Center during the National Road Festival Saturday.
Brad Hundt/Observer-Reporter
Milo Hamberger and the beagle Black Boomer before a contest of dogs in cute costumes at the National Road Festival in Claysville Saturday.
CLAYSVILLE–Trucks and cars may have been roaring down Interstate 70 just nearby, but on Saturday and Sunday another road was being celebrated in Claysville and other communities in the region.
The National Road Festival commemorated the first federally funded road, which is now Route 40. The festival has taken place on the third weekend in May for decades, with communities along the route hosting events with live music, historical reenactors, arts and crafts, food and more. Residents who live along Route 40 in Washington and Fayette counties have also gotten in on the act over the years, drawing bargain hunters to yard sales and garage sales.
In Claysville, downpours in the morning and early afternoon did put something of a damper on the event, according to Pam Smith, who was selling DVDs and other goods from the front porch of a residence on Route 40. She said, though, that things started to pick up after the precipitation started to move out of the area.
A hot dog eating contest, a competition with costumed dogs and a pie eating contest were all scheduled in Claysville on Saturday. In Scenery Hill, the arrival of the wagon train that is part of National Road celebrations was planned, along with an outdoor screening of the movie “Top Gun: Maverick” on Saturday. In Fayette County, events were set in Brownsville and Hopwood, and an exhibit on the Korean War was set at the Abel Colley Tavern in Menallen Township.
The first National Road Festival was in the 1970s, as the United States prepared to celebrate its Bicentennial in 1976. Built between 1811 and 1837, Route 40 was created to connect eastern portions of the young nation with western settlements. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson believed such a road was necessary in order to unify the country.