By Deanna Brown
Current wet conditions may have cotton farmers on pins and needles, but once upon a time, cotton was king in Kerens.
That heritage will be celebrated this Saturday with the fifth annual Kerens Cotton Harvest Festival.
“Each autumn the cotton crop was gathered and culminated months of work and worry for area farmers and their employees,” reads the handbook for the Cotton Harvest Festival. “Until recently, the cotton crop was the main source of income for Kerens folks. Fall meant cotton picking time ...
“After a week of hard hot work, Saturday was the day to come to town, see your friends, sample some special treats and have some fun. Well, those days are gone — cotton is harvested mechanically, there is only one nearby operating gin in Powell, and people earn their living at jobs in town rather than picking cotton in the country. The Cotton Harvest Festival relives the excitement of those long-ago Saturdays. The red brick main street is once again alive with people out to see their friends and have some fun!”
The purpose of the Cotton Harvest Festival is two-fold, however. Not only does it celebrate Kerens’ roots, it serves as the main fund-raiser for the brand new Kerens Library. It is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, so all donations are tax deductible.
“This is the fifth year for the Kerens Cotton Harvest Festival,” said Kim Latta, coordinator. “The first few years was to raise money to build the facility, along with all the help from the volunteers and the grants we’ve been so lucky to receive. These last two years has been to help pay off a $74,000 low-interest loan that also came with a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.”
Indeed, the Kerens Library was a dream first conceived in 1988, and through thousands of hours of volunteer work by the community, the dream has become reality with a beautiful new library building, complete with new computers, Internet access, a vast collection of books, and more. Run by volunteers, it provides a hub for the community, from young to old.
“The new Kerens Library is such a beneficial addition to the entire community, and so many people have worked so hard to bring it to fruition,” Latta said. “The library is run entirely by volunteers, so we are always looking for people willing to give some of their precious time to help us out.”
Kerens Cotton Harvest Festival will kick off at 7 a.m. Saturday with a pancake breakfast at the Kerens Alunni Center, and will climax that evening with a street dance to the musical stylings of Ira Bradford and Bustin’ Loose. Bradford and the band, as well as the Corsicana Cloggers, traveled to the State Fair of Texas recently to promote the Cotton Harvest Festival with performances. Both will perform Saturday in Kerens, as well.
“The State Fair goers crowd around to enjoy the superb entertainment these two groups bring every year,” Latta said.
New events this year include a Dutch Oven Cook-Off and the new “Sweet” category added to the Cake and Sweets Bake-Off.
“I am so lucky to have a team of very dedicated hard workers to accomplish such a huge job, and it takes every one of us,” Latta said. “This year, those people are Gayle and Frank Steed, Diane Lang, Janie Quinn, Christine Howell, Betty Partain, Vernon May, Ed Strange, Cindy Carnegie, Vanessa Svehlak, Kim Spencer, Tresa Darby, Barbara Latta, and last but definitely not least, my wonderful mother, June Latta. Of course, there are so many more that help out, but it would be impossible to list, but everyone works so hard.”
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