Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Parkway Fire and Rescue Department held its annual Grassy Creek Gem and Mineral Show as scheduled this past week in the field above Spruce Pine Chevrolet.
While the indoor North Carolina Mineral and Gem Festival was canceled on Friday, July 24 by the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce, Parkway Fire and Rescue decided its festival would be able to follow pandemic guidelines more easily because it was held outdoors.
Parkway Fire Chief Rescue Bryon Burleson said it wasn’t an easy decision, but after meeting with several groups of people, they decided to move along with it.
“After long discussions and meetings with our board of directors, officers, some county officials and we heard from some of the vendors that were coming, we decided to go ahead and go forward with it,” Burleson said.
To keep in line with Centers for Disease Control guidelines, Burleson said they spread out the vendors to encourage social distancing, had hand sanitizer available to attendees and some vendors had signs which encouraged mask wearing.
Burleson noted the importance of the festival in supporting the department’s operations.
“This festival is a major part of our operating budget,” Burleson said. “If we didn’t have this festival it would really cut our services that we provide for the community.”
Parkway Fire & Rescue Treasurer Donna Collis noted the festival brings in an average of $20,000 for the department each year and goes directly toward an array of expenses.
“For example, right now we have two trucks which need repairs and that can severely impact our services,” Collis said. “If our services decline, our insurance service offering rating declines and then that impacts the homeowners in our district because their insurance goes up.”
Collis said the festival usually hosts about 70 vendors but this year they only had 45, which means less funding for the fire department and less money going into the county.
One of those vendors was Mabel Benjamin, a Mitchell County resident and co-owner of Rock and Things in downtown Spruce Pine.
Benjamin, who has been a vendor at the festival for more than 30 years, highlighted the importance of the festival to the local economy.
“When people come to this, they don’t just shop here at the festival and help these vendors, they go to our shops, they eat at our restaurants and they buy gas at our gas stations,” she said. “It is really an important event for the community.”
Benjamin said the biggest difference at the festival this year was the fewer number of vendors and attendees due to the pandemic.
“It’s different this year, yes,” Benjamin said. “There are vendors who aren’t here that usually are because they are from out of the country. But everyone is staying six feet apart unless they’re family. We’re following the guidelines.”
Mitchell County resident Peighton Robinson said she and her family come to the festival every year to enjoy the different gems and cultures represented.
This year, Robinson said they had some trepidation but ultimately decided it would be safe enough to attend.
“We had some concerns with the pandemic going on but we thought because it’s outside and we wore masks, we would be fine,” Robinson said.
The festival concluded on Sunday, Aug. 2. Burleson said they plan to have the festival next year under less stressful circumstances.