The annual festival to celebrate “The Town That Wouldn’t Drown” continues today in and around Babe Curtis Park in Butler.
The 25th Old Butler Days started on Friday but continues today until 10 p.m.
The festival features vendors, music, giveaways and stories about the town’s history. The Butler Museum will also be open extended hours and with no admission charge.
Music will be played throughout the day in Babe Curtis Park. Other activities will include door prizes, raffles and games for all ages.
The Butler Fire Department will host a variety of children’s games, a dunk tank and “train ride” through Butler.
The National Guard will be present with games and information.
The Butler Ruritan will be selling homemade food all day, and vendors will be present with a range of gift and home items.
And visitors will have two chances to collect more than fun.
At 4:15 p.m. auctioneer John Brookshire will call for bids for numerous items donated by friends and sponsors to Old Butler Days, including a Tennessee Vols rocking chair.
Then, at 9:45 p.m., “The Big Raffle” drawing will distribute prizes including a Glock pistol, a “Pamper Me Pretty” basket, a patio set and a swing and a bed from Shoun’s Lumber and an oak rocking chair.
Old Butler Days celebrates and remembers the people who lived in Old Butler, whose homes and community were lost when Watauga Lake was created after the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded the area. Old Butler, which was located where Elk Creek, Roan Creek and Watauga River met, was flooded in 1948 when the gates on the dam were closed.
The people of old Butler relocated their homes, buildings and more to higher ground.
For a short time after the move the town was renamed Carderview, but the residents decided to go back to the original name Butler to remember their old home.
All proceeds from the two-day festival are used by the Butler Ruritan to meet the needs of people of the community.