Hilltop Festival 2017 You'll "Fall" in Love with Rutherfordton All over Again

Rutherford Town Revitalization will Kick-off our Fall Events with an event that has become extremely popular with our local crowd. Our 5th Annual Soapbox Derby will be held Friday October 6. Get your team together and come join the fun. Practice starts at 6:00pm on Main Street and the Event will began at 7:00. There will be qualifying heats to see who competes. Come see the competitors try to take each other out in this family fun event.

The Hilltop Festival, a fall festival held the first Saturday of October in historic Downtown Rutherfordton, is a family fun event drawing enthusiastic crowds from far and near. Thousands of folks of all ages enjoy free live music on the Courthouse stage and in other festival locations as well as dance, martial arts and other demonstrations. Vendors provide something for everyone with art, crafts, handmade items and fabulous festival food from roasted corn to barbecue, fried pies and Twinkies and everything in between.. Local churches and merchants join in the fun by providing homemade desserts and homegrown beef burgers and other gently used items for sale. Downtown merchants have their doors open and join the fun having special sales and welcoming the crowds.

Rutherfordton's Main Street is actually part of a National Park with the historic Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (http://www.nps.gov/ovvi/index.htm) coursing straight down Main Street. And during the fall Hilltop Festival, the Overmountain Victory Trail Association who hold an annual march to commemorate the role of the Overmountain Men in the Revolutionary War and their success at the Battle of Kings Mountain, often participate in the festival with storytelling and a march (http://ovta.org/).

In addition, a 5k run and the Tour de Pumpkin sponsored by the Rutherford Outdoor Coalition (http://rutherfordoutdoor.org/events) is scheduled this same Saturday. The Tour which includes both 100k and 50k rides is among the most popular Western North Carolina biking events.

For more information, contact Rutherford Town Revitalization, Rutherfordton's NC Main Street affiliate program at 828-287-2071 or www.rutherfordtown.com