FAITH — The Faith Frosty Fest has been a resounding success during its first two years, and the town will look to keep the turnout strong with the event being held this upcoming Saturday.

The festival will have a few changes this year, with one of the largest being that the event has been extended, running from noon to 8 p.m. instead of 2 to 8 p.m. as it has in previous years. The event will be held at the Faith town stage and Legion Park, located behind the Faith Town Hall.

During those eight hours, shows will be held on the stage and food trucks and vendors will be set up throughout the area of the park, with the over 50 vendors offering various Christmas and Hanakkuh gifts. To drive home the holiday spirit, each of the vendors will light up their areas after sunset.

The event will continue to feature prior years’ main attraction, the golf cart parade down Main Street with vehicles outfitted with Christmas lights, wreaths and much more as part of the cart decorating contest. The parade will begin at 6 p.m., after sunset.

The Frosty Fest will also feature the ugly sweater contest, which has been renamed this year to the Bud Moose Ugly Sweater Contest in honor of Bud Moose, who won the contest in 2023 with a sweater featuring a snow globe attached to the front. The contest will be held after sunset as well, along with a tree lighting.

Moose, who died in January, was well-known in the East Rowan community, serving as maintenance supervisor at Nazareth Children’s Home outside of Rockwell as well as spending his time outside of work volunteering to coach youth football and basketball teams.

“The pleasure has always been ours. The kids do more for me than I do for them. It’s a joy in my life. I don’t hunt or fish or play golf. I just spend all my time with kids. My theory is God was just looking at me and knew he had to get me into something to keep me out of trouble,” said Moose in a 1990 Salisbury Post article by Rose Post announcing that he was named Angel of the Month, a $500 award given by an anonymous donor to Rowan County community members who went out of their way to help others.

The event will also include visits from the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman and Santa; free ornament-making workshops called Santa’s Workshop; horse-drawn carriage rides; face painting and balloons; and a bounce house. Entertainment will include shows by Studio B Dance Studio, Dimensions Dance Studio, South Rowan High School Chorus, West Rowan High School Chorus and Flip City Gymnastics.