By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–Families from all over showed up for Helena’s biggest festival of the year at the two-day event simply known as the Buck Creek Festival.

This was the 14^th annual Buck Creek Festival held at Helena’s Amphitheater Park in Old Town Helena and the weather couldn’t of been better for both Friday and Saturday.

Both days featured a variety of bands, food, clothing and retail vendors, a kid’s zone area, lots of sunshine and the famous duck race.

Unlike past years, the festival was not dampened by rain and Helena was set to break records for the number of people and ducks sold for the race.

Helena Mayor Mark Hall took in all the festivities Saturday and made it a point that none of it would be possible without the help of volunteers.

“To Cris Nelson, our council president, and all our volunteers we really need to emphasize how big their volunteering and what they do to put this on because no one is getting paid to do this,” said Hall. “They spend weeks preparing for this to make it work so what I’m most proud of is how they pull it off every year without a hitch. We’re happy for our community not only economically, but also for the high school band and the contributions and the scholarships that come out of the festival so it’s very important to our community.”

Even many non-Helena residents who had heard about the festival showed up to enjoy the music and take in all of what Helena had to offer.

Tom and Renee Powers of Clanton were visiting the Buck Creek Festival for the first time and were enjoying the weather and vendors with their family.

“This is our first time at the Buck Creek Festival and our son recently built a home in Helena so we’re here visiting family,” said Renee. “We enjoyed the music and being with our grandchildren who have also enjoyed it.”

The Buck Creek Festival prides itself on being a free, family-friendly community event and each year the amount of people and interest continues to grow as well as the city itself.