Third year for car, artisan event

The Ironton Heritage Festival returns to downtown Saturday.

There will be a lot of events going on at the two parking lots adjacent to the Ironton Farmers Market.

Sam Heighton, the executive director of Ironton aLive, which is putting on the event, said that the event has grown every year.

“This is the third year for our Heritage Festival,” he said. The Ironton aLive’s Heritage committee chairman is Bob Cleary and the project chairman is Mike Pearson. “Bob and Mike have worked for months putting the improvements on this event, and you will be delighted with the results.”

The event is free to get into.

From 10 a.m.-5 p.m., there will be 25 artisans; Heighton said they added more artisans this year.

“They are all top notch people,” Heighton said. “We looked at them really well and bring in the ones we think are a little different.”

The artisans cover a wide range of subjects including woodworking, homemade candy, canned goods, yard flags and more.

“There are a lot of different crafts,” Heighton said. “They are top-notch.”

The Ironton Farmers Market will continue as always with local vendors selling produce, jams, and handcrafted items starting at 7 a.m.

There will be a car show with local car clubs rolling in around 10 a.m.

“We are expecting a lot of cars,” Heighton said. “We’re hoping there is no problem parking down there, because they will be all around the Farmers Market area.”

The car show will start around noon and trophies will be handed out at 2 p.m.

Live entertainment will begin at 10 a.m. with the Ironton High School Varsity Singers.

There will be other singers and entertainers throughout the day.

The Lawrence County Historical Society will have presentations about Ironton’s history.

“That’s new this year,” Heighton said. “We wanted to showcase Ironton’s past.”

There will also be food and inflatables for the kids.

“This will be a family event so bring the family and spend the day,” Heighton said.

Starting at 10 a.m. Ironton In Bloom will be giving out hot biscuits and fried apples.