Four-year-old Mikiyah McNeill, 3-year-old Auystn Bell and 7-year-old Rahkeem Jones danced along 13th Avenue in Erwin Saturday morning as the 82nd Airborne Marching Band played a tune in the Denim Days parade. The street was lined with smiling faces as the 30-minute procession, featuring the Triton High School Marching Band and the Dunn clowns, marched on.
“Elephant, elephant, hey elephant!” McNeill shouted as she waved at a mascot elephant with pink hair that followed the band.
Before an impromptu shower whittled down the denim crowd, families lined up with their little ones for $5 pony rides; children bounced and slid down inflatable slides; denim-clad attendees flocked to food trucks for Rogue burgers, hot dogs, fried pickles and walking tacos; and crowds swayed to the tunes of bands and local choirs.
Dogs — large and small and dressed in denim — showed their love for the blue fabric that put Erwin on the map as the Denim Capital of the World in Saturday’s Doggie Denim Contest. Oliver, a blonde cocker spaniel with a brown spotted nose and denim overalls was named runner-up in the contest. Alicia West’s tiny Bear took first place. Both dogs won a mini-photo shoot by a photographer in Erwin.
But another contest drew the largest crowd.
Firsts and seconds
Casey Howard, of Erwin, was just a baby when she won the Baby Denim contest at her first Denim Days in the early ’90s. She wore a denim romper with a Peter Pan collar, then — or so her mother tells her — and she posed for a photo with her new crown and smiling family in front of the busy mill that was still in operation, churning cotton into denim.
The Denim Capital was booming then and, even though the mill is no longer in operation, Erwin was booming once again on Saturday for the 55th celebration of Denim Days.
And for the Howard family, it was another special day of firsts.
It was the first time attending Denim Days for Casey Howard’s husband, Johnathan Howard, and their 6-month-old daughter, Ramsey, who was vying for her first crown.
“I told him about it. I was like, ‘We’ve got to enter her,’” Casey Howard said.
“I am so excited,” Johnathan Howard added, with a smile. They crossed their fingers for another win to carry on the family tradition.
Minutes before the contest, a heavy rain began to fall on downtown Erwin, sending festivalgoers scurrying for cover under awnings and trees.
“I looked at the forecast this morning. It wasn’t supposed to rain,” said Jaime Smith as she worked to gather the contest participants.
Mothers and fathers with denim clad and often squirming babies huddled for cover under the gazebo to get their contest numbers.
Ramsey was No. 5.
Johnathan Howard hoisted her high as her name was called. Ramsey was wearing a denim dress and a bow in her dark, curly hair. She surveyed the crowd and the gazebo’s ceiling fan as her smiling father paraded her around.
“It’s about the showmanship, right?” Johnathan Howard asked with a grin.
Less than an hour later, Ramsey was capped with a crown and awarded second place for the Sweetest Personality among the youngest in the Baby Denim contest. She posed for a photo with her parents — just like her mother had done. Another tradition for the scrapbooks. Another Denim Days to remember.
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