Kimberly Cannon | The Valdosta Daily Times Sisters Shona Junkins and Jessica Barker attended the 36th Annual Hahira Honey Bee Festival with Junkins' sons, Riley and Zander. 

HAHIRA — A swarm of people gathered Saturday for the 36th Hahira Honey Bee Festival. 

The parade, one of the largest in South Georgia, started around noon with go-carts, costumed characters, horses, monster trucks and more taking part. 

Along with the large horses showcased during the parade were small ponies that kids could ride throughout the day. That was 10-year-old Mackenzie Braswell’s favorite part of the day. 

While she enjoyed the horses, her mother, Amy Braswell, said she enjoyed going to the arts and crafts booths at the festival, and, she jokingly added, inspiring her friend, Michelle Boutwell, to be crafty. 

Boutwell was there with her two children, Shelby, 10, and Wes, 7. Her daughter, who got her face painted along with Mackenzie, said one of her favorite parts was all of the candy. 

Braswell and Boutwell said they enjoy going to the festival every year and spending time with friends.

The same can be said about sisters Shona Junkins, 25, and Jessica Barker, 18, who are both from Nashville. 

They said they go to the festival almost every year, and this year, Junkins also brought her sons, Riley, 4, and Zander, 2. 

“It brings everybody together and it supports the community,” Junkins said of the festival. 

Barker said she enjoyed going to the vendors, especially those who sold bath bombs, and eating the Alligator Kebabs. Barker said she guessed that Riley’s favorite was the bouncy house. 

Looking past the crowd and behind the tables of the booths, there are some more familiar faces at the Honey Bee Festival, as many vendors have made the festival a staple event in their lives, such as William Avery of Lowndes County. 

Avery has had a booth at the Honey Bee Festival every year for 18 years. He sells handmade, hand-painted wooden toy cars, trucks, tractors and even decorative reindeer. He said he doesn’t have a store and only sells the items during the festival.

Avery said he’s been doing the festival for so long he has regulars who come out each year to buy from his booth. He said this is a hobby he developed when he was bored during retirement. 

The 2017 Hahira Honey Bee Festival concluded 6 p.m. Saturday after a week full of events. 

Kimberly Cannon is a Reporter with The Valdosta Daily Times. Her extension is 1376.