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June 8, 2009

Moonbow Days & Nights

Times-Tribune Staff Report

The Cumberland Fall’s moonbow was not the only draw for locals or visitors this weekend in Corbin.

To celebrate the occurance, Corbin’s Main Street businesses held the first-ever Moonbow Days & Nights festival Saturday.

Dora Mobley, of Alley Stuff Antiques, envisioned an outdoor festival dedicated to antiques and the arts. So she rallied her fellow merchants and proposed the idea to Corbin’s Main Street Manager, Sharae Myers, who excitedly supported the project.

“The merchants pulled together to make this happen,” Myers said of the event. “It was a strong cooperative effort by all of the downtown merchants.”

Spanning the length of Main Street, many merchants offered special sales, savings, and giveaways in support of the celebration. A disc jockey played music in Nibroc Park until the Corbin Community Band took the stage.

Nibroc Park served as a focal point for many attendees to Moonbow Days & Nights. In addition to several local businesses and vendors, the park served as the contest location for the “tackiest lawn ornament contest.”

Myers took home the title with her entry Tacky Garden Madame: a tall ornament with flowered hat and dress, hanging fly swatters, garden gloves, and butterfly net. Myers’ entry beat out a four-feet-tall wire sculpture of a pink flamingo, a sparkling monkey in a tree, and a year-round Christmas tree, among other entries.

“I was so proud,” Myers said of winning the contest. “This was sponsored by Alley Stuff, and it was a lot of fun. It was a creative project, and I was not afraid to put myself out there.”

Around 450 people visited Nibroc Park’s tent sales and viewed the tacky ornament setup, Myers estimated. One vendor drove up from Knoxville to sell antiques on the sidewalk. Duane Baysinger of Studio B. Jewelers seemed pleased with the occasion as a whole.

Many visitors, along with artist Debra Klopp-Kersey, enjoyed the open-air atmosphere and festival feel. Martin Jones, a sophomore at Corbin High School, judged the day to be a success, noting that he and friends raised much-appreciated money for Corbin High School’s Thespian Society.

The Moonbow Coffeehouse also played host to several events for the day-long event. Master Roaster Jared Ross offered a coffee seminar as well as samples of his work. Additionally, the local merchant presented Jim Begley’s gallery show of high-definition landscape photography with several local landmarks on display.

The evening was capped by music from several local artists, featuring Hotel Yellow, Clearwood Bellawater, Pine Mountain White Fountain, Addie Loy, Josh Evans, John Patterson and more. For owner John Alperti, the Coffeehouse’s offerings were very important.

“This is what it was supposed to be all about, a bunch of folks in the community coming together to enjoy local music and artists,” Alperti said. “(Moonbow Days & Nights) puts Corbin in the front of people’s mind for entertainment and, now, maybe it makes Corbin the place to go for entertainment.”

Alperti added he would like to see this event repeated, potentially as early as this year.

Additionally, several of the Main Street businesses stayed open throughout the day and into the night, giving shoppers another choice to patronize within Corbin.

The newly expanded Peach Corner entertained its gathering with cooking demonstrations and food tasting. Other businesses who participated in the event included S&J;, McBurney’s Designs, Gibson’s Music and Maggie J’s.

“This has been one of the most exciting events that we have done because it pulled so many merchants together,” Myers added about the success of the event. “So many people were involved in making this happen.”

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