Union’s annual “Country Day” will be Saturday, September the 13th. A Country Boy and Girl Pageant will be Thursday evening, September 11th.
This year will see the return of the Mule Pull, a past crowd-favorite where teams of mules compete in a weight-pulling competition. Registration is set to start at 11 a.m., with the actual pulling likely taking place around 11:30 or 11:45 a.m. There are set to be three weight classes, with currently 18 teams lined up. The admission for the Mule Pull will be completely free.
Andy Harrison, the organizer of the Mule Pull, said that this year’s Mule Pull will have a beginner’s class as well for people with little to no experience in mule pulling. “If they want to bring their team of mules, we’re going to be there to help them,” said Harrison.
According to Harrison, Eli Warren, the grandson of Lonnie Warren, “one of the original ones that started pulling mule pulls at Country Day,” would say the opening prayer and Grace Rob, from Rose Hill, Mississippi, would be announcing.
Harrison said that people from out-of-state, including from Louisiana, were planning to come and participate in the Mule Pull. “They’re not doing it for the money,” said Harrison. “They money they make won’t even cover their diesel to come up here. . . . It’s just something we enjoy.”
The last time Country Day had a mule pull was almost twenty years ago, according to Harrison. “It’s a dying art,” said Harrison, “but we’re trying to keep it alive.”
“Union used to have the largest mull pull show around,” said Union Chamber of Commerce President Neal McCarty, “so we are certainly excited about [it] being back.”
The Good Hope Band, a mix of classic and contemporary country and rock, is set to be the main evening entertainment of the day and is tentatively set to play from 6:00-7:30 p.m. A BBQ cookoff will be held in the later afternoon and in the evening before and during the concert.
There will also be a Kids Zone as well as the Classic Car Show. There will likely be plenty of vendors at the event, including food vendors. Most general vendors will stay from 8-2.
Vendor sign-up is done exclusively through a google form, the link to which can be found on the Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page. One 10x10 tent space for a general vendor or an arts and crafts vendor costs $75; two 10x10 tent spaces cost $150. A 10x10 tent for an informational booth costs $60 and a reserved spot for a food truck or trailer costs $300. All vendors must pay an extra $15 for electricity.
Country Day has been a long-standing tradition in Union, with the first one being held in 1977. A couple of Union residents were asked for their recollections of Country Days from the past.
Mark Herrington remembered such things as the Doris Dickerson Band playing, a fly-over from the Navy in the event’s earlier years, and “bunches and bunches” of “tremendous” vendor booths where “you could buy just about anything.” Herrington said that there was even a vendor from Florida that came and sold “big, beautiful green plants.”
Herrington also remembered opening up his insurance office to customers, letting them come and sit down, use the bathroom, or just enjoy the air-conditioning.
Brenda McElhenney remembered such things as fresh lemonade, vendors selling country-style wooden furniture and decor, and an evening dance uptown on the street that parents would bring their children to.
“It would last till midnight,” said McElhenney. “We would stay up there all day long, put our chairs on the sidewalks, and go back to our chairs and sit down when we got hot or needed to. And the kids would dance together. They would all dance in a group or they'd just be dancing around, playing; we didn’t worry about where they were. . . . It was just such a good, good time.”
“Everybody just had the best time visiting,” added McElhenney. “We'd see people we hadn’t seen in years.”
