Crowfest flies high for second year

Crowfest took flight for a second year in downtown Chatham.

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Colleen and Jerry Janssens

Rain couldn’t scare away participants in the costume contest, which drew even Crowfest first-timers Colleen and Jerry Janssens of Dresden, at the festival that wrapped up Saturday.

Colleen said she saw all the event promos and “It looked like something fun to do.”

Jerry said his wife “likes making costumes, she likes dressing me up.”

Colleen said she dipped into her costume closet at home to assemble their striking costumes.

“I built this actually to go to Nashville a couple of years ago for my birthday,” she said. “I just modified it to get some of the crow theme going with it.”

The Hooper family, Chad, Mandy and daughter Landry, 3, also entered the contest during their first Crowfest.

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Mandy Hooper said she saw photos online and thought the costume contest would be fun.

“Landry loves getting into character so we thought it would be a great experience for her,” she said, adding that even with the rain, “It’s been a blast.”

Walter George

Hundreds locked to downtown Chatham Friday to see buskers, enjoy live music, join in art activities and check out vendors lining King Street, which was closed off for the event.

Kristin George, of Chatham, attended for the second year with her son Walter, 5, who proudly sported a crow costume.

Walter was impressed by the “big crows” at last year’s festival, she said. “He loved the big crows, so he decided he needed a crow costume.”

They enjoyed it so much they had to return, and Walter insisted on wearing his crow costume.

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George also likes that the event closed King Street to traffic.

“I like it when the stores stay open later so we can all come and be together in the downtown,” she said.

They enjoyed the buskers, especially the fire-throwing stunts, she added.

The Tiny Girl, Big Show

The Tiny Girl, Big Show busker team of Leah Orleans, and partner Morgan Howard, who provides music and sound effects for the show, were a big hit.

This is their first year at Crowfest and Orleans was impressed by response to their first show Friday.

“It was fantastic,” she said. “I thought the audience was really cool.”

She believes the crowd didn’t know what to expect from the show, which features a cracking whip, fire-breathing, a unicycle, her contortionist skills and a heavy dose of comedy.

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“We kind of just hit it hard and started going and everyone was so kind and really generous and wonderful,” said Orleans, who’s been performing around the world for more than 20 years. “I feel really grateful for this.”

Arriving in Chatham a few days before their first show, they had to buy some gear and people asked why they were in town and said they’d come see them, she said.

“There’s something about the community that’s so powerful when it’s a small town that’s coming out to support a local event like this.”

Sarah Pike

It was also Sarah Pike’s first Crowfest Friday, and the Chatham resident got into the spirit by wearing a crow costume.

Though she only found out the festival Thursday, pulling together a crow outfit was no problem, she said.

“I will dress up at any moment if I have a reason to,” Pike said with a laugh. “I’ve got a whole bin of costumes.”

Pike said she loves October and is glad there’s something else to enjoy.

She also loves the crow theme, because Chatham has been known for its crows for as long as she can remember.

“We’ve never really celebrated them,” Pike said.

“We can’t get rid of them, so we might as well just accept it as part of our lives.”

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