Daija Rivers, author of “God is my Friend.”
Taren Fregosi and Eastin Roberts, owners of Reptile 101.
The Morven Town Council was in attendance of the October festival.
Joy Jackson and Tasha Coleman, advocates for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.
MORVEN — On Oct. 8, Morven hosted its annual October Festival.
Events included musical performances, a car and motorcycle show and a parade.
Star Legacy Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to reducing pregnancy loss and neonatal death and improving care for families who experience these types of tragedies, provided resources regarding pregnancy and infant loss at the event.
Tasha Coleman, a pregnancy and infant loss advocate, wanted to participate in the festival so that she could contribute to raising the awareness of pregnancy and infant loss to members of the community through various informational resources.
“We are doing this because there is no support locally for families who suffer baby loss,” Coleman said. “We want to promote awareness so that we can possibly get services to support families in Anson County. This is a dire need. October 15th is recognized as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Day.”
Daija Rivers, author of “God Is My Friend,” presented her book to families to provide some positivity.
“I wrote this book to help young kids lean towards God when they are experiencing negative emotions and to learn to speak positivity over themselves at a young age,” Rivers said. “I believe that it is vital for kids to learn that they are a child of God.”
There were diverse food vendors at this event including Angela Pratt, owner of Mrs. Angie’s House of Lights Concession & Food. Pratt has participated in the event once before and enjoyed serving food items such as snow cones, cotton candy and chips to her customers.
“This year was better than the last time because their were more people to come out than the previous time and I was able to serve more people at this festival,” she stated.
Attendees could also learn about diverse types of reptiles including snakes, frogs, lizards and turtles at the Morven October Festival.
Taren Fregosi and Eastin Roberts, owners of Reptile 101, have traveled throughout the country to show and educate others about reptiles.
“People normally have a negative attitude about reptiles and we are trying to change that perception,” Fregosi said. “We like to give people a positive interactive experience with the reptiles.”
Amethra Crawford, an attendee, enjoyed looking at and learning about the reptiles.
“This is the highlight of the Morven October Festival. It is different and unique and you don’t typically see this type of vendor at this type of event. I find reptiles very intriguing and enjoy watching them on television,” she said.
“The October festival was a great success and was just what we needed to show that our community could come together to celebrate each other’s differences and boost the morale here in Morven,” said Corinthia Lewis, Morven town council member. “We would like to thank everyone that helped make the October Festival a great success. It was truly an amazing day!”
“We had a successful festival and without the community there would be no festival, stated Tim Watkins, the mayor of Morven.
The Morven October Festival Committee has hopes that the event will be even bigger and better next year.
Reach Iris Hunter at 704-294-3448.