The annual Labor Day Celebration at the Harrogate City Park was definitely one for the books.

The 2019 celebration drew in a record-breaking crowd for the yearly family-friendly event. There is something for everyone including games, arts and crafts and music. Upon arrival, event-goers are immediately immersed in the interest of the event as fire department members are busy parking vehicles along both sides of TN 63 and inside the park parameters as far as the eye could see.

From 3 p.m. until the fireworks ended there was a non-stop flow of traffic going through the park.

Harrogate Mayor Linda Fultz says the city celebrates Labor Day because it is a time that citizens can take off, and bring their families to the Labor Day Celebration.

“Almost everyone is off on Labor Day. It’s kind of the end of summer. Vacations are over with. It is just a good time for everyone to get together,” says Fultz.

She says the event is held in a great place, one where many people come for Labor Day because there is not many options to do so in the rural area.

The Harrogate Park was filled with inflatables and train rides for the children, crafts and jewelry tables for the adults. A wide variety of food was available for those in attendance as local eateries were set up among churches, schools and other groups. You could find your traditional festival foods such as funnel cakes and your many fried items to hand spun cotton candy.

There were also refreshment tables that included iced coffees and fresh-squeezed lemonade. There was definitely a treat for everyone’s sweet tooth.

The festival brought hundreds in from the Tri-State area and even beyond to celebrate the end of the long holiday weekend. In addition to the inflatables and train rides, children of all ages enjoyed the splash pad as parents enjoyed the non-stop music that filled the air as act after act took the stage.

A plethora of music genres was performed throughout the day with Southern Steel closing out the evening.

The full day of festivities ended with the traditional fireworks show that has become one of the most popular fireworks shows around. It was an approximately half an hour of non-stop booms as children and adults watched the skies being lit up over the Harrogate community.

Ambulance and fire trucks from Claiborne and Middlesboro were also at the event in case of an emergency.