Clinton festival draws nearly 10,000 amid detours
Katherine Birkbeck executive director of Historic Downtown Clinton thanked the city of Clinton for making the Clinch River Antiques Festival a success this month, despite lower turnout.
The festival took place Oct. 3 and 4. Vendors set up along Commerce Street and the Commerce Street parking lot rather than Market Street as in previous years. Construction on Market Street prevented the typical layout for the festival.
Birkbeck reported to council at its Oct. 27 meeting that in 2025, 9,816 people showed up, down about 300 people from 2024. These numbers, Birkbeck said, came from the Anderson County Tourism Council.
“I will take that all day long with the circumstances we were working in,” she said, referring to the construction.
Birkbeck in general stayed positive about the antique festival, citing surveys from vendors and visitors. She said 78% of brick and mortar stores who filled out the survey said the festival met or exceeded their expectations for sales. She even said one antique shop was up 22.5% in sales from the 2024 festival. She said multiple vendors liked working from Commerce Street, and there was just one complaint about parking in all of the survey results.
“I will always believe that we are at our best as a community when working together, and I think this past festival was one of the prime examples,” she said. “It took a lot of different entities and a lot of different people working together, and I think Clinton shined because of that.
“I’ve never been more proud of an event. I will say that. And also, I’ve never been more glad that it’s over.”
Even as construction on streets and sidewalks continues, the city is preparing for its Christmas Parade on Saturday Dec. 6. Mayor Scott Burton told the council he had appointed auctioneer Bear Stephenson as Grand Marshall. However, the route is not certain yet, Birkbeck said.
School meals
Scott Rhea, Clinton City Schools fiscal services director, told Clinton City Council at its Monday Oct. 27 meeting, that the school system’s meal program would not suffer during the government shutdown.
“We have a good fund balance for our school nutrition program,” Rhea said. “So, we are able to ride out a reduction in cash flow.” He said when the shutdown ends the federal government will reimburse the school system for funds lost.