Established in 1936 and held in late May each year, the Strawberry Festival attracts nearly 100,000 people to Buckhannon each year. Folks enjoyed a Friday night and Saturday parade complete with floats and marching bands.
The Strawberry Festival Grand Feature Parade, is one of the largest parades in the Eastern US. First-class bands and performance groups from across America were invited to participate in the celebration activities.
The Festival is a unique, traditional celebration to promote thestrawberry harvest. Enthusiastic volunteers provided good, family style entertainment that offered exciting educational and cultural events for everyone.
Friday WV LIVING Magazine was there enjoying the sidewalk traffic and catching attention from subscribers and fans. We found Gary Bonnett and his band walking down Main Street before the Firday evening show. They particularly took interest in the newly released WV Wedding magazine as they eagerly posed for a picture.
The southern culture has a long history of producing many talented singer/songwriters who intertwine their various musical influences. West Virginia native, Gary Bonnett, pictured in the withe tee shirt, carries on that tradition. He mixes together his personal brand of southern red dirt music to include Bluegrass, Folk, Country, Southern Rock – all wrapped around lyrics that sound too insightful for someone his age. After a couple of years honing his craft and graduating from Marshall University, he started into song writing. The band played in front of lots of local and new listeners Friday evening at the street party on Main Street. Check out "The Long Road Home" on lonestarmusic.com, cdbaby.com, and itunes. "Created in WV, recorded in Texas, and enjoyed by everyone around the world."
Gary played many of his songs Friday night including West Virginians are Coming Home, Hillbilly Ways, and Rock Cave (as in his hometown in Upshur County neighboring Buckhannon). The crowds love it! Gary also announced his story released in the May 11th issue of Country Music Weekly .
