LONDON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Morning winds from Helene delayed the start of the World Chicken Festival in Laurel County, but organizers made the call to kick off the festival with opening ceremonies at 5 p.m. after a day of weather evaluation.
The World Chicken Festival is a big event for vendors from across the country like Priscila Benacio from Florida.
“For the week, we probably do 120 hours of work for the chicken festival,” Benacio said.
With her husband, Benacio started the Greek food vendor In Yeero Dreams. They travel across the country, going to around 50 festivals each year. While Priscila is at the World Chicken Festival, her husband is in Casey County at the Apple Festival.
“We do also survive on this all year round,” Benacio said. “We need the events to try and get through the winter. Chicken festival is a big one for us. It's pretty sad to come out here and not really make any sales. “
This morning, wind tore through the downtown area, damaging tents on and around Main Street. The winds caused organizers to delay the start of the World Chicken Festival.
“I saw a lot of different tents in the middle of the street,” Benacio shared. “Everything was kind of crazy, things getting blown around.”
With the start delayed and Friday’s schedule of popular contests, the World Chicken Festival kept on clucking, officially opening up at 5 p.m. Vendors were allowed back in at 3 p.m. to set up, after organizers and local law enforcement met to look at the weather.
“This is not a regular local event,” said Travis Shortt, director of public relations and events with the London-Laurel Tourist Commission. “This festival is very important to the community because it is a fundraiser and everything that is done here actually supports local nonprofits.”
Additionally, with vendors and entertainers from around the country, the festival could not be simply postponed.
“The one time the festival was canceled, it impacted the local nonprofits, almost detrimentally,” Shortt added.
“We would be in the hole at this moment at least $5000,” Benacio said. “We would love to be able to open and still be able to make some sale Saturday and Sunday and be able to recover some of that money back.”
While the contests were canceled, Friday’s performances were set to go off as normal. As the afternoon went on, the sun popped out from behind the clouds. The World Chicken Festival is scheduled to continue Saturday and Sunday as planned.
