The town of Caledonia may have a new director for its annual Caledonia Days celebration, but Amanda Jones is hardly a newcomer to the event.
As a young girl, Jones, 26, remembers helping decorate her family’s downtown business and walking the parade route in the early years of the celebration.
Now she’s the woman in charge, taking over from alderman Tammy McCool, who helped the event transition from its original downtown venue to Ola J. Pickett Park four years ago.
On Wednesday, Jones and McCool were doing a walk-through of the park, noting the progress of the preparations in advance of this year’s celebration, which begins with a Friday evening concert followed by a full day of activities on Saturday.
The two women’s enthusiasm for Caledonia Days can hardly be contained.
“I love Caledonia Days and I love my town,” said McCool, who made the decision to step down after four years as director when she decided to run for alderman.
“I can’t think of anyone who I’d rather have take over,” McCool said. “After a while, I think things like this need a new vision and Amanda is absolutely outstanding. It’s “Let’s do this,’ and “Next year, we can do this.’ That’s what festivals need — people with that kind of energy and excitement.”
Jones said she could not imagine a better situation to walk into.
“I can’t imagine doing this without Tammy’s help,” she said. “It’s not like I came in and there were things that weren’t working, that needed to be fixed. It was just walking in to a great situation and looking for ways to make it even better. Tammy has been great.”
While Jones said she has no detailed plans for the future, she has already made her presence felt. This year’s event will feature an expanded kids’ area and the main stage has been moved to the main ball field, which both women believe will bring the event together.
Jones said they’ve added 30 vendors this year, bringing the total to more than 150 — everything from games, to arts/crafts to food.
“As far as putting my stamp on this, I just want it to continue to grow, to be more fun for kids and more fun for families,” Jones said.
Caledonia Days was originally planned as a one-time event to coincide with the town’s centennial 14 years ago.
The community response was so positive that the town decided to make it annual celebration. This year the town provided $20,000 to fund the event.
McCool said that Caledonia Days really turned a corner when the it moved to Ola J. Pickett Park.
“That was also my first year as director,” McCool said. “I told the (board of aldermen), ‘Look, this is getting bigger and bigger every year. We have a beautiful park. So why don’t we move it there and showcase our park?”
That, too, proved to be a wise decision, allowing the event to expand to a two-day event. The park’s size allows for future growth too.
“It’s a perfect place to have this,” McCool said. “I think Caledonia Days really took off when we moved it to the park.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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