Thousands of people are expected to make their way to Mount Sterling this weekend for October Court Days. Tracy Pearce is the director of Mt. Sterling/Montgomery County Tourism. She said October Court Days is the oldest festival in Kentucky and has been happening almost every year since 1794. The name comes from the fact that when court was in session, people would gather from the surrounding
“So what would happen is, people would bring all of their items to buy, sell and trade, horses, cattle, lots of things, wheat, flour or whatever they needed…they would trade amongst themselves. October became the most popular because people needed all those supplies for the wintertime.”
She said this event is a huge draw for her community.
“It’s a big event. We have about 200,000 people that come into our town of about 7,000. So it’s a big deal, we have about a thousand vendors that are set up throughout the town, and also our downtown businesses are open and a lot of other events go on throughout the festival as well.”
Pearce said the festival brings with it a large economic impact with hotels in the area selling out and people filling local businesses. She is expecting a larger crowd than normal for this year’s festivities. October Court Days, starts today and runs through Monday.
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