ALTON - The third annual Pietown Gospel Festival was held at Rock Springs Park this weekend - the venue one of the main organizers, Greg Gelzinnis, hoped it would be since its inception.
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The event began 6:30 Friday evening with a mayoral proclamation from Alton Mayor Brant Walker before Fred Church and His Spirituals took the stage. Gelzinnis said the event is a good way to put Upper Alton on the regional map and give Rock Spring Park an anchor event every year. He said it should be expected the last weekend of July 2018 to be held there as well.
"It has been a great, great, great experience so far," Gelzinnis said Saturday afternoon before the local Riverbend Community Gospel Choir took the stage. "Last night we had the Community Gospel Choir from North County St. Louis, and they really put the 'unity' in 'community.'"
Gelzinnis estimated as many as 300 attendees showed Friday night, and as many as 500 were piling in Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, he hoped for no less than 1,000 attendees by the evening's festivities.
"It's a beautiful technicolor crowd too," Gelzinnis said. "Old, young, black, white, we have babies in strollers and people in walkers."
Attendees were invited to bring their own chairs and blankets for seating at the park's upper athletic area.
They were also invited to enjoy "festival food at economical prices," including pork steaks, large brats, quarter pound hot dogs and "ice cold" watermelon by the slice.
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