Organizers said annual festival was a success

Mayfest coordinators said the annual festival on May 5 at Tom Byrne Park in Atmore was a big success.

Atmore Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Emily Spurlock Harp said Tuesday that the feedback she’s received has been of support and encouragement.

“I heard it was the most diverse, and the biggest crowd we’ve had in years,” she said. “Everybody commented that they loved that a crowd was there all day.”

Harp credited the diversity of the event as the sole reason why the crowd spread out throughout the day.

Harp said the chamber is definitely bringing back the Miss Mayfest Pageant and the softball tournament, and added that both are going to expand next year.

“We also learned that the beautiful baby contest (sponsored by The Atmore Advance) was awesome,” she said. “We had 41 babies participate.”

Harp said the vendors seemed to be really pleased with the day, and at present, the chamber is sending out surveys to not only vendors, but the community to gauge how they can improve on next year’s Mayfest.

“We’re already hard at work for next year,” she said.

To put on an event of this size, it takes a massive effort.

Harp said it was inspiring to watch Mayfest come together.

“The chamber worked so hard doing our part of it, but to watch in those final days people just taking care of things; it was the littlest things, like Sandy Helton, just does the stage, Central Farm donated the flowers and for your Little Pink Boutique and Yellow Garden to sponsor the pageant,” she said. “AJ and Ellis Beachy went and got golf carts and ATVs from John Deere and Johnson Ford.

“It was phenomenal watching it come down, and watching it being dismantled,” she said.

Harp said when the event was over, the city of Atmore was out picking up trash, and it’s those things that people don’t realize it takes to put on the event.

“The chamber puts it on, but I would venture that the chamber coordinates it,” she said. “It’s like that tried and true thing — many hands make life work. That was exemplified at the event.”

2018 Miss Mayfest

Pageant Winners

Little Miss Mayfest

• Winner — Kadahlyn Salter

• First runner up — Alydia Sutton

• Second runner up — Brooklyn Reynolds

• Best Walk — Lexi Holland

• Most Personality — Sutton

• Best Dressed — Salter

• Best Hair — Reynolds

• Miss Congeniality — Salter

Junior Miss Mayfest

• Winner — Chloe Ann Johnson

• First runner up — Hillary Huskey

• Second runner up — Madison Paige Brown

• Best Hair — Brown

• Most Personality — Addisyn Hall

• Most Photogenic — Breah Faith Shelly

• Best Smile — Shelly

• Best Dress, Walk and Miss Congeniality — Johnson

Miss Mayfest

• Winner — Bailey Camille Hayles

• First runner up — Victoria Marie White

• Second runner up — Bailey Elizabeth Jones

• Best Walk — Alana Gayle Shelly

• Miss Congeniality — Brenna Watson

• Most Photogenic/Best Hair — Jones

• Best Smile/Personality — White

• Best Dressed — Hayles