Spring Mountain Festival

 The Grant County Chamber of Commerce orchestrates the Spring Mountain Festival each year during the last weekend in April.  The Festival is in its 30th year and was first started in 1992 and has been the first Fairs and Festivals Event each year in West Virginia. 

Its roots run deep in Grant County and date back to the White Water Weekend that was an annual event every year starting in 1973 and running to 1979.  White Water Weekend was centered around kayak and canoe races on the North Fork of the South Branch River and culminated each year with the April Fools Race of “anything that floats that’s not a boat.”  

The US Championship Canoe Races were held on the North Fork which sparked the weekend that was combined with a Golden Trout Festival to become White Water Weekend.  Local craftsman, Clubs and vendors provided food and crafts to crowds that would literally walk miles to come see them.  White Water Weekend died out after a number of floods destroyed the rapids and other community and traffic issues forced its curtailment. 

This left Grant County and the Petersburg community searching for a new festival to take the place of White Water Weekend.  In 1992 the Grant County Chamber of Commerce sponsored the first Spring Mountain Festival in the Petersburg City Park.  

The Festival at its roots centered on local crafts, artisans and food vendors with entertainment, a parade and numerous activities for young and old. 

Today the Festival has grown to include a WV Fairs and Festivals Pageant, free entertainment (sponsored by local businesses) ranging from bluegrass to county and classic rock to gospel with circus or magic acts for the young and young at heart.  Bounce houses, climbing walls and pony rides keep the children busy. 

A trout derby (keeping true to the Golden Trout Festival) will be revived this year with prizes for all ages.  There are Food Vendors serving BBQ, crab, sausages, and almost any kind of Festival Food that exists.  Artisans and other craft vendors are spread throughout the park selling their unique wares.  The parade with bands, military units, fire engines, and pageant royalty and business entries is one of the biggest events of the year.

Annually the Spring Mountain Festival attracts 5000-6000 visitors to the 4 day event that is advertised on TV, the web and social media and draws people from the surrounding states and Northern Virginia.  The Festival continues to grow and is a great time for everyone that attends. 

Spring Mountain Festival will be held April 26th-April 28th, 2024

Mark your calendars for the Spring Mountain Festival hosted by the Grant County Chamber of Commerce. The festival has been moved back to the City of Petersburg Park. Admission to the festival grounds is free and features fabulous entertainment from the festival stage, arts and craft vendors with a variety of interesting and useful creations and novelty items, rides, games, food vendors, flea market, civil war train rides, and much more. There's an antique car, truck, and tractor show for the big kids with prizes for the winners and a motorcycle show. The festival boasts a parade to start Saturday's activities. Compete at the double elimination corn hole tournament throughout the festival or enjoy as a spectator. The Spring Mountain Festival has something for all ages and you won't want to miss the excitement. The Miss Spring Mountain Festival Pageant is held a few weeks before the festival and is open to all West Virginia girls who meet the qualifications. The pageant is a preliminary to the West Virginia Fairs and Festivals Pageant held in January of each year.

Winter will be gone and Spring just begun. This will be a great opportunity to get away and just have a weekend of fun as guests of the Grant County Chamber of Commerce in the beautiful Potomac Highlands of West Virginia.

And, thinking of Spring, we can help you get your garden started with a great variety of plants and flowers from local growers. Take some home with you!

There is no admission fee for this event!

FESTIVAL DOCUMENTS: Printable Vendor Application & Rules - See SMF Documents below (Vendor Information section) or email the chamber at office@grantwvchamber.com

PARADE ROUTE

The parade route will start at the Baseball Field at the top of Pierpont Street and proceed down to Virginia Avenue and turn west on Virginia Avenue to the Stop Light and turn South on Main Street and end at the Parking Lot in front of the Fire Department. The route is approximately 0.80 of a mile.

GENERAL PARADE RULES

The parade line-up will start at 9:00 A.M. and the parade will promptly start at 10:00 AM; rain or shine and end approximately at 11:00 AM. There is NO rain date scheduled. 

You must register your entry prior to the parade. Registration ends Monday, April 22nd.

Parade coordinator (Doug Pixler) will be located at PHS Baseball Field to control the arrangement of all participants.

There are police officers in convenient locations throughout the parade route. 

The sounding of horns, sirens, and/or air horns will result in automatic disqualifications. CHILDREN participating in the parade MUST be supervised by an adult before, during and after the parade. 

ANY ANIMALS participating in parade must be MUST be supervised before, during, and after the parade. All dogs must be on leashes. All horse must have current Coggins certificate. Horse check-in will be at the Petersburg High School parking lot (see attached map). It is a requirement that the Department of Agriculture check your current Coggins certificates.

For Parade Information

Contact:

Have your entry to us by April 22nd and let's have a great time at Spring Mountain Festival!

Mail Entry to:  

SMF Parade

185 Providence Lane

Petersburg, WV 26847 

atten: Doug Pixler

Email information to ParadeSMF@gmail.com

Grant Co Chamber of Commerce

126 South Main Street Petersburg, WV 26847

304-257-2722 or office@grantwvchamber.com

Rules for Vendors

General Notes:  The Spring Mountain Festival (SMF) is not an exclusive Festival with regards to Vendors.  There will be multiple vendors selling similar and like products.  The SMF Staff will endeavor to spread these similar vendors out within the vendor assignments.  Vendors are expected to cooperate with the SMF Staff/Coordinator and other Vendors for a smooth set up and breakdown.

Booth Space:

Craft Vendor Space is 10’ Road Frontage by 15’ Deep and multiple spaces are available. Your sales area, tent, booth or trailer must fit inside the 10’ road frontage by 15’ depth. If you have a trailer that serves out of the side, and you want to face the road, you must rent enough spaces to fully contain your trailer, sales area. No exceptions will be made.  If you want more than 10’ of sales frontage, then you must rent adequate spaces to achieve that length. No exceptions will be made. In the Field Area your sales area must fit inside the 15’ x 15’ allocated space.  You can sell out of all 4 sides. 

Food Vendor Space - Your sales area, tent, booth or trailer must fit inside the 10’ road frontage by 20+’ depth. If you have a trailer that serves out of the side, and you want to face the road, you must rent enough spaces to fully contain your trailer or sales area. No exceptions will be made.

          1.  Booths must be identified with a professional-looking sign displaying the vendor’s name and product(s) being sold.   Menus with item prices shall be posted for Public View.

          2.  The Festival Vendor Coordinator will make all the booth/space assignments in advance.  Assigned spaces will be clearly identified before the start of the festival.  No booths or displays will obstruct a fire hydrant or free space provided around such hydrants.

           3.  All vendors are responsible for keeping the area around their booths clean throughout the festival.  Any trash accumulated throughout the day should be disposed of by the vendor in any of the various trash cans available throughout the park.

          4.  Food vendors are required, by the Grant County Health department, to provide covered trashcans located at the front of their booths.  You are also responsible for keeping the can liners changed as needed.  Someone will be around to pick up full trash bags that have been removed from cans and tied up.  Do not let trash cans overflow at your food space.   Vendors shall provide trash can liners. 

           Vendors are responsible for:

               a.  Providing safe and secure booth structures and equipment, e.g., tables, chairs, displays, etc.
               b.  Adequate weather protection and overnight security for their products.
               c.  Loading and unloading products and equipment.
               d.  Complying with health department regulations.
               e.  Abiding by festival rules.
 

          5.  Use of open fires must be approved by the Vendor Coordinator and all ashes and debris from the fire must be removed from the park by the vendor.

     Vehicles:

          1.  Vehicles ARE ALLOWED in the festival area before the festival begins and after closing to facilitate loading and unloading. 

          2.  Vehicle traffic in the festival area during festival hours will be discouraged.  Exceptions will be made for entertainers, festival staff, and vendors with special circumstances (which must be pre-arranged with the Vendor Coordinator).  Vendors who need to drive into or around town during festival hours MUST ensure their vehicle is parked outside the boundaries of the park before the festival begins.

          3. Selling from vehicles is forbidden. 

          4. Overnight parking of vehicles or trailers within the boundaries of the park will be permitted ONLY with prior arrangements through the Vendor Coordinator.  Passes must be displayed in vehicle at all times during the festival.

      Setup Time:

          1.  Vendors set up and replenishment times are as follows:
                Friday 9-11:30 AM
                Saturday 8-9:30 AM
                Sunday 7:30 – 8:30 AM

           2.  Festival Open times are as follows:
                Friday 12-10 PM
                Saturday 10 am-9 PM
                Sunday Festival open 9-4 PM and 10 AM Church

           3.  Food vendors with trailers MUST make arrangements with Festival Coordinator prior to setup. 

          4.  Non-food vendors arriving on Friday must be set up no later than 11:30 am and plan to keep their displays open until Sunset.

          5.  All vendors are expected to man their booths during Festival Open times until sunset or 4PM on Sunday. Special arrangements may be made in advance with the Vendor Coordinator.

          6.  Any vendor who closes early on a given day or shuts down completely during festival hours may not be invited back and will have to carry their products out of the festival grounds, as vehicles will not be permitted in the festival area for this purpose.

           7.  All booths/trailers must be closed down and removed from the Park by 7:00pm on Sunday night, unless advance permission is given by the Vendor Coordinator.

 Friend the Spring Mountain Facebook Page and check the website for schedule updates and information!!!!