Bicentennial contest winners announced
BUCKHANNON — Community members continued celebrating Buckhannon’s 200th anniversary Friday by announcing the winners of the beard-growing and photography
contests.
The winners of the beard-growing competition were Dennis Cortes, David Thomas and Dr. Joseph Reed. The event helped raise money for Stockert Youth Center. The photography contest was sponsored by the Buckhannon Upshur Camera Club, as well as several area businesses.
Mayor David McCauley said when he took office after winning the May election, he noted the city had not celebrated its 200th
anniversary.
“One of the first things I observed was that we kind of missed the mark as a community to celebrate something that is very special to everybody in the Buckhannon-Upshur community, our 200th Anniversary, which really occurred last January. But it’s still 2016 right? So I called upon a number of folks. We decided to have a public forum down at City Hall to discuss ideas for events. We had 25-30 people show up,” he said.
The culmination of the planning occurred with a large celebration Sept. 30 in Jawbone Park, an event which drew 3,500 people, McCauley said. But officials didn’t want that to be the end of it.
“We didn’t want it to just be a big bash at the park and that’s it. We asked, ‘What can we do to continue this through to the end of the year?'” McCauley said.
That lead to the beard-growing competition and the photography contest, as well as other events, McCauley said.
Alan Tucker is editor of the Camera Club’s Newsletter. He said the club was pleased to participate.
“We were only happy to oblige and put on a photo contest,” he said.
Club President Gary McCoy said he was pleased with the number of entries, which were displayed at the Public Safety Complex.
“I was overwhelmed at not only the number of photographs but also the quality,” he said.
The winners were as
follows:
• Youth category: First place, “Ralston Press” by Hannah Wiley
• Upshur County heritage category: First place, “Pringle Tree Sunset” by Gary McCoy.
• Monochrome category: First place, “Banjo Player” by John Simons.
• General category: First place, “Loco Reflection” by John Simons.
• Best of Buckhannon category: First place, “Waiting for the Grand Parade” by Ron Buckton.
• Best in show: “Map of Upshur County” by Hannah Wiley.
The following entries received honorable mentions:
• Youth: “Logging” by Hannah Wiley and “Old Barns and Moons” by Austin Simons.
• Upshur heritage: “A Fiddler’s Mill Autumn” by Sandra Miller and “Kesling United Methodist Church” by Sandra Miller.
• Monochrome: “Post Mansion” by Hannah Wiley and “Daily Grind” by Courtney Chidester.
• General Category: “Barrell Racing” at Rocky Creek Ranch by Gary McCoy, “Wesley Chapel Sunset” by Gary McCoy, “Golden Cascade” by Sandra Miller and “Dalia” by Phyllis White.
• Best of Buckhannon: “Main Street View” by Kilsong Cox, “Wesley Chapel Fall Blaze” by Robbie Skinner, “Happy Birthday Buckhannon” by Robbie Skinner and “Buckhannon Summer Skyline” by Robbie Skinner.