By Elizabeth Wilkerson -- Daily Staff Writer

EDINBURG — Whether it's friends, family, food or the promise of fun, festival goers say there's plenty to keep people coming back to Edinburg's Ole Time Festival year after year.

The event, in its 28th year, was held Friday through Sunday, and was set to include a parade, sing-along, Old-Timers Baseball Game, bed race, duck race, antique auto show and movie premiere, according to the festival's schedule. The festival is sponsored by the town and the Edinburg Heritage Foundation.

Constance Marson, of Edinburg, said she and her husband, Ronald, have come to the festival every year since they moved to the area more than 10 years ago.

"It's fun, first of all," she said. "It's nice to see what's different every year. It seems to get a little bigger each year."

One of the highlights of the festival is the parade, she said, and this year's was one of the best because "there were more bands ... and [it] was longer." But the parade isn't the only thing that keeps the Marsons coming back.

"It's nice to see the children that we know grow up," she said.

"And they have children," her husband said. "It'll be nice when that mill's finished, too."

Peggy Runion, of Woodbridge, said she grew up in Edinburg, and has been to the festival "about every year."

"I think it changes every year," she said. "I love the old vehicles and the parade. I love it."

Runion said her family lives in town, and, though she doesn't run into many people she knows anymore, being in her hometown conjures up a lot of memories.

"That's my school I went to," she said, looking at the old Edinburg High School. Runion doesn't get to many festivals, but "this is my favorite, right here," she said.

"I would love to move back home," she said.

Chuck Wolfrey, along with his mother, Mary Wolfrey, sat in the shade near Miss Ugly, his red 1962 Plymouth Fury convertible, which was part of Saturday's antique auto show. Wolfrey said that when he brought the car home, his daughter said, "That car is ugly," and it stuck.

Wolfrey, of Edinburg, said he'd come to the festival "since it was created."

"We like to see the people," Mrs. Wolfrey said, and usually family members from other areas visit for the event. "It gets better every year."

"I love it," Wolfrey said. "I'll keep coming back for more, generation and generation and generation."

Mayor Dan Harshman was the projectionist for Saturday's showings of "The Burning," a film on Union Gen. Philip Sheridan's 1864 campaign to "wipe out the bread basket of the Confederacy by destroying the mills and farms of the Valley," which the Edinburg Mill survived, according to the festival's schedule of events.

The response to the film had been "really good," Harshman said Saturday afternoon.

"We've had full houses both shows," he said. "This means a lot to us," he said of the film's premiere, because in it people can "start to see what'll be at the [Edinburg] Mill."

Harshman said he'd "done the opening ceremony" in 18 of the festival's 28 years, and that every year was "unique." The Ole Time Festival "was probably one of the first festivals" in the area, he said.

"They've just got a really great group of dedicated people that work really hard on it," he said. First-time visitors are often surprised by how many people are in attendance, he said.

"I think one of the big things for us is we're such a walkable town," he said. "It's not like you're going to walk yourself to death" going from one end of the festival to another.

Vicky Slaughter, of Winchester, was one of a host of vendors at the festival Saturday. Slaughter, of Vicky's Fine Art Jewelry, said this was her first year at the Ole Time Festival, and things were going well.

"We like it," she said. "It's one of the better ones I've been to."

"I think there's more people here than a lot of the other ones," said Tammy Boyer, who was with Slaughter.

"So, I definitely would come back," Slaughter said. "It's like a day vacation, you know."

* Contact Elizabeth Wilkerson at ewilkerson@nvdaily.com