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Belleville Homecoming Festival set for this weekend

Mark Wills (Photo Provided)

BELLEVILLE — Following its cancellation — like so many other events — the 2021 Belleville Homecoming Festival is scheduled to run Friday through Sunday at the Belleville Community Center on West Virginia 68 South.

The three-day festival will feature entertainment, activities, games and attractions, including music by this year’s headliner, country singer Mark Wills and others.

Wills is a platinum-selling artist whose with eight top 10 hits, which include “Wish You Were Here,” “19 Somethin,'” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Places I’ve Never Been,” “I Do (Cherish You),” “Don’t Laugh at Me,” “She’s in Love” and a cover version of Brian McKnight’s “Back at One.”

Homecoming president Debra Buckley said one new event this year is actually bringing back an old one. On Sunday there will be a fiddle contest with special appearances by local mandolin artist Johnny Staats and fiddler Bobby Taylor. Staats will well-known on the local and regional bluegrass scene. Taylor, of St. Albans, is a fourth generation fiddler and plays several styles of old-time and contest fiddling. He has taught fiddle workshops and has judged at a variety of competitions.

Buckley said the fiddle contest has been featured at the Belleville Homecoming in previous years, she thought most recently in 1985.

The fiddle contest registration will begin at noon with the competition will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday. The prizes will be $300 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third.

This year’s activities also will include cartoon characters, along with laser tag, an inflatable slide and an obstacle course with a $5 wristband covering all day.

Admission to the homecoming is free on Friday only.

Admission on Saturday and Sunday is $6 for adults, $2 for children ages 3-12 and free for children under 3 years of age. A few events during the festival also will require a special entry fee plus proof of admission.

The Belleville Homecoming Parade will be 10 a.m. Saturday on W.Va. 68. The lineup begins at the Belleville Hydro-Plant entrance road at 9 a.m. There is no entrance fee.

The Belleville Homecoming Cruise In will be held Saturday at the Belleville Community Building. Car registration begins at 11 a.m. and the show is noon-3 p.m. The entry fee is $15. There will be drawings and door prizes.

The schedule for the 2021 Belleville Homecoming Festival follows:

FRIDAY

* 6-7 p.m.: Enter exhibits

* 7-9 p.m.: Teen Dance with The Music Factory

* 10 p.m.: Grounds close

SATURDAY

* 8 a.m.: Ground open

* 9 a.m.: Parade line-up

* 10 a.m.: Belleville Homecoming Festival Parade; Tug tractor pull registration and pull; Lawn tractor pull registration and pull

* 11 a.m.: Opening ceremonies; Cruise-in registration; Horse show registration

* Noon: Pretty Baby Contest registration

* 12:30 p.m.: Pet Parade; Horse Show

* 1:30 p.m.: Chicken throw

* 2 p.m.: Haybale throw; Bugs, Lola Space Jam

* 2:30 p.m.: Cornhole registration; Youth sack race

* 3 p.m.: JJ, Yo-Yo; watermelon eating/seed spitting contest

* 4 p.m.: Hula hoop contest; Cornhole tournament; Toilet Paper Contest; Oreo Cookie Challenge

* 4:30 p.m.: Arlo Smith and Brett Dunn

* 5 p.m.: Roy Clark Jr.; Bugs, Lola

* 6 p.m.: Rim Shot; JJ, Yo-Yo

* 8 p.m.: Mark Wills

* 9:30 p.m.: Fireworks

* 10 p.m.: Grounds close

SUNDAY

* 10 a.m.: Grounds open; Tractor show/rodeo registration

* Noon: Truck pull registration

* 1 p.m.: Truck pull; Tractor show/rodeo; Tootsie roll spitting contest; Corn shelling contest; Tweety Bird, Daffy, Space Jam

* 2 p.m.: Fiddle Contest; Tom Tom, Coco Mellen, Spongebob

* 2:30 p.m.: Oreo Cookie eating contest

* 3:30 p.m.: Roy Clark Jr.; Kiddie Pedal Power

* 4 p.m.: Tweety Bird, Daffy

* 5 p.m.: Tom Tom, Spongebob

* 6 p.m.: Grounds close

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