SALISBURY — With fall in the air, that meant it was time once again for the Autumn Jubilee. The largest gathering in Rowan County each year, the Autumn Jubilee packs Dan Nicholas Park with vendors and visitors looking to capture that fall joy.

This year’s Autumn Jubilee was a welcome return to the event, which was canceled last year after Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency amid an impending hurricane.

Like old friends that pick up right where they left off, Autumn Jubileers returned to Dan Nicholas Park.

Don Bringle is the Rowan County Parks and Recreation director. In collaboration with various moving parts, his department puts on the show each year.

“We have several key stakeholders that have a responsibility,” Bringle said. “Ashley Duncan takes care of our craft vendors. Megan Cline takes care of our food vendors. Also under that, we have the Rowan Wild group. We have a heritage group. Andrea Baucom takes care of our children’s area, which includes face painting, children’s crafts and jugglers.

“Jim Byrd and the maintenance staff take care of the parking and the set up and break down afterward. Joni Hobbs is a big part of the event coordination. It’s a collaborative effort.”

Bringle mentioned that support staff from Ellis and Sloan parks are a big help, along with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office for conducting traffic and EMS services for being on-site.

The hard work pays off once the first full weekend of October rolls around.

“We had about 25,000-30,000 people on Saturday and another 20,000 on Sunday,” Bringle said.

Keeping the legacy of the longstanding jubilee event going drives Bringle and the rest of the collaborators.

“We do it as a legacy,” Bringle said. “We have done it for 42 years. We have families that come together and come to this event.”

Keeping the event admission-free is another important element for them.

“It’s something that costs our taxpayers absolutely nothing to come and participate in other than what they would purchase as at the event,” Bringle said.

Like other festivals, it’s a chance for small business owners and crafters to purvey their wares. Unfortunately, Bringle said the festival has just run out of room to meet the demand of so many interested vendors. They had to turn away more than 50 this year for lack of space.

While expansion prospects at Dan Nicholas Park would be limited, Bringle said that they have discussed holding other similar-style events during different parts of the year but added that they are merely considerations at this point.

Bringle said that one noticed change this year was that they had a DJ instead of live musical entertainment.

“We did it to see how it would go,” Bringle said. “We did have a lot of people asking about the bands.”

The parks and rec director added a few more ‘thank yous.’

“We want to thank the county manager for his support and our elected board of commissioners who continue to support Autumn Jubilee,” Bringle said. “Without their vote of confidence, we would not have what is necessary to make this happen.”