This week the 54th Logan County Tobacco (& Heritage) Festival is being held. In the grand history of the event, it's likely none has played as big a role as the fourth one did, 50 years ago this month in 1960.

     That three-day Festival began on Oct. 21, 1960, just a few days before the election of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States,. The calendar only had nine events, as compared to the 53 on this year's docket. Actually it was not an event at all which played such a dramatic role in local history. Instead, legend holds that the stimulus for great gains in opportunities for education and cultural improvement came from the tabloid which is printed each year to promote the Festival.

     The supplement to The News-Democrat which Publisher Allean Evans and Editor Al Smith oversaw contained a special segment on the history of education in Russellville and Logan County. Under the banner headline "Russellville long an education, cultural center," articles discussed the history of education in Logan and its county seats. Discussion topics included Bethel and Logan colleges, Newton Academy, Miss Fannie Browder's School. Logan Academy, Logan Female Academy, Auburn Seminary, Rodifer School, Shaker School, Knob City Elementary (Knob City High School had integrated into the city system but the elementary school was still in existence), Logan Elementary, and Russellville High School along with the five schools in the county system. Also a reunion of graduates of some of the schools was planned during the Festival, a forerunner of today's class reunions that are often held the second weekend in October.

     Writers of the articles included superintendents R. E. Stevenson and Robert Piper, Mrs. J. Wells Vick (few people knew the name Velma Vick), Evelyn Richardson, Margaret Stratton, Brother Edward Coffman, Cola Turner and Deedy Hall. In those early years of the Festival, much of the tabloid space was devoted to history, especially since there were so few events.

     Mary Alma Andrews sent a copy of the special edition to Russellville native Thomas P. deGraffenried, a highly successful lawyer in New York. Mr. deGraffenried was so impressed with his hometown's excellence, that he bequeathed about a million dollars  to Russellville to be used for the educational and cultural benefit of the citizens of Russellville. His death came only a few months later at age 80. From his legacy came $200,000 for the lobby and thousand-seat auditorium which joined the new Russellville High School completed a few years later, $125,000 for an area vocational school to match federal funds, $5,000 toward a sheltered workshop for developmentally impaired young people, $75,000 toward the building of a public library building, and $200,000 for a deGraffenried Scholarship Grant and Loan Fund.

     Almost a half century later, deGraffenried Auditorium, the Russellville Area Technology Center and Logan County Public Library still are in great use and stand as memorials to what the deGraffenried Legacy has meant to this community. Countless people and their descendants are better educated through these institutions, through the loans they secured to earn college educations and through the cultural events that have been funded in great measure by deGraffenried funds. The money was invested and managed wisely by the late attorney G. Sam Milam and committees which have overseen its use. Milam was the only attorney to have paid for a support advertisement of the Festival in the tabloid.

     All of this was a direct result of the work of those who organized, oversaw and publicized the 1960 Logan County Tobacco Festival.

     Businessman Eugene Riley was chairman of the 1960 Festival. A businessman himself and the father of Riley-White co-founder Carroll Riley, Gene Riley was the person most responsible for the Tobacco Festival becoming a reality. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce when the first Festival was held in 1957, and he served as chairman of the Festival for six straight years from 1959-64. Thoams Foulkes was Chamber president that year with Winky Sosh and  Bob Guion as vice presidents. Other directors were Joe Copple, Pete Hancock, Dick Hite, Marvin Stuart, Earl Davis, A.M. Rector, Harry Whipple, Alvis Oakley, Taylor Fuqua, Will Evans and Cecil Huffines. Of that group, only Guion lives today.

     Others in key roles were Jim Lyne as emcee of the queen's pageant, President Stan Ray and Chairman Bill Cates of the Jaycees in charge of the parade, Barbara Smith of the Young Woman's Club in charge of the queen's contest, Edith Rogers and President Lena Barrett of the Business and Professional Women's Club overseeing the queen's ball, Sosh planning a square dance, and President Nellontine Jameson and Josephine Bruce of the Legion Auxiliary chairing the window displays. President Margaret Clark of the Woman's Club, Regent Velma Vick of the DAR, President Louise Craig of the Garden Club, County Agent Aubrey Warren and Home Demonstration Agent Margaret Sullivan also were in leadership positions.

     Queen Elaine Page was crowned by 1959 Queen Beverly Gambrill from among 38 contestants. Only juniors and seniors could be contestants for many years.

     Tobacco was an important part of the festival which bore its name then. Little Johnny Phillip Morris returned as a special guest and the Queen's ball was held at the New Burley Warehouse. Since deGraffenried Auditorium had not been built, the queen's pageant was held at the RHS gymnasium, the building which was torn down a year ago along with the rest of Logan College and what had been the elementary school at the time. Tobacco business people named in the tabloid included Mrs. K.M. Sheffield, J. Harvey Harper, Z.R. Stratton, Paul Young, L.C. Kemp, Jack Dockins, W.T. Noe, W.W. Noe, Fuqua Kemp, James Henderson, Tom Brown, J.W. Murrey and Jesse L. Riley Sr.

     A special part of this Festival was the official groundbreaking for a new industry coming to Russellville, Emerson Electric. That ceremony for the $2.5-million investment in Logan County was held on the first day of the Festival, Oct. 21, with Lt. Gov. Wilson Wyatt, Commission of Agriculture Doc Beauchamp, Emerson Vice President Henry Miller and Mayor J. Taylor Fuqua taking part. Rockwell had been in Russellville for four years. The work force had increased from 28 to over 200 employees, and the monthly payroll had increased to a significant $62,725 per month. 

     The festival parade had early registration of 13 bands and 26 floats. Jesse James wasn't scheduled to rob a bank this time.

     The businesses which advertised in that historic and significant special section are a reminder of days gone by. Among the very few still in business 50 years later are Moore Insurance, Citizens National Bank (now First Southern National Bank), Southern Deposit Bank's successor BB&T, First Federal Savings & Loan (now part of U.S. Bank), Auburn Banking company, Dollar General, Russellville Electric Plant Board, Caldwell Lace Leather, Ko Kleeners, News-Democrat, Pennyrile Rural Electric, Riley (White) Drug Store, Southern States, Logan Telephone Cooperative, Jesse L. Riley & Son Insurance & Real Estate, Evans Equipment, Farm Bureau Insurance, Young Funeral Home, Smith & Sons Service, Sherwin Williams, Western Kentucky Gas, Auburn Lumber, Farmers Hardware, Home Decorators and Pete Hunt's Barber Shop.

     Hunt's Barber Shop, Farmers Hardware and Home Decorators were part of the relatively new Bethel Shopping Center. Also advertising in a block ad from the shopping center were Borders Pure Milk, G.W. Leach Sales and Service, A&F Laundrymat (that's how it was spelled), Russellville Pawn Shop, College Drive-In Restaurant, Bethel Beauty Shop, Sew-Ezy Fabric Shop and Ann's Children's Shop.

     Adairville businesses advertising included Betts Funeral Home, People's Bank, Michael's 5&10, Guy Orndorff Hardware, Moody's Garage & Welding, Martin Hardware, Adairville Enterprise, First National Bank, Sykes Shell, and M&G Market.

     Auburn-based businesses advertising were Auburn Drugs, Auburn Hosiery Mill, Auburn Roller Mills (Robbins Brothers, Auburn Mills (Scotts and Clarks), Auburn Lumber, Logan Telephone, Howlett Chevrolet, Young Funeral Home, Caldwell Lace Leather, Auburn Banking Company, Home Furnishing, and Johnson & Ashby Hardware.

     No Lewisburg businesses chose to advertise. The first Tobacco Festival queen was Lewisburg's Sue Williams, however.

     Tobacco companies advertising included New Independent Warehouse, new Planters Warehouse, Farmers Tobacco Warehouse, Sheffield's One-Sucker and Burley Floor, Russellville Loose Leaf # 2 and Eastern Dark Fired Tobacco Growers. Other agri-businesses included Agnes Davis' VC Fertilizer, Banner Seed, Ideal Pure Milk, Green Meadows Dairy, Russellville Tractor, McCarley and Richardson, Commonwealth Fertilizer, Southern States Cooperative, Starks and Jennings Implement and Farmers Hardware.