After months of preparation, it was sweet success for the first day of the 50th annual Covered Bridge Celebration.

“This is a year long process,” Tonya Stevens, director of the Elizabethton/Carter County Chamber of Commerce, said. “We work with our Covered Bridge Committee, a great group of volunteers that assist us throughout the year and help us get everything together. Obviously, the last couple of months has been the crunch time to get everything together. The city has been great to work with, our sponsors were great … it takes their help to make everything possible and help make the music free.”

A timeless tradition for the Covered Bridge Celebration is the Ice Cream Social tent, sponsored by Food City of Elizabethton.

“This is an annual tradition,” Stevens said of the Ice Cream Social. “Food City provides ice cream cups and it’s just great for the community. It’s always a hit with people.”

Representatives from Food City were busy filling their tent prior to the start of the event, with Danny Ward, Terri Shipley and Stacey Hicks preparing to give a nice cool treat to attendants.

“Last year we gave out 500 ice creams, this year we’ve given out around 900,” Danny Ward, with Food City, said. “This is just something Food City does to give back to the community. This is the 50th year and we’re happy to be part of it. Not only with the ice cream, but with the ‘Water Wars’ event of Saturday, too.”

While the Ice Cream Social is a tradition, Wednesday kicked off nonprofit night at the Covered Bridge Park, which will last until Thursday.

Stevens said that 21 organizations will be out and about during the celebration.

“Some are selling things to fund raise,” she said. “Others are just passing along information on their groups. This is the second year, we tried it last year and had a lot of nonprofits that wanted to get involved. We wanted to try to figure out a way to best utilize what they had to offer and spots were going very quick this year. We had 20 spots and went over by one.”

Thomas A. Davis, who served as the master of ceremonies on Wednesday, knows the importance of what nonprofits mean to the community by being involved with several groups.

“This was a great way for us to all get together and be known to the community,” Davis said, sharing a laugh while playing cornhole. “We want to show the community we’re out here doing things and gain support. With the interaction with everyone, I got asked to be master of ceremonies.

“Being involved with the 50th anniversary of the event is amazing. If you know the story of where this started and what it has become, how widely it’s known and how important it is for the community, it’s truly an honor to be involved this year.

Davis also had the opportunity to share the stage with Harold Lingerfelt, who served as the first ever MC for first ever event held for the Covered Bridge – at the time known as a country music celebration.

Wednesday was a full music lineup featuring the East River Park gospel band, which was followed up by Gospel Grass and the night concluded with Jeff Woods rocking the microphone to cap off the first night of activities.

While Wednesday and Thursday will be for the nonprofit vendors, the bulk of events for the Covered Bridge Celebration get underway Friday and Saturday, according to Stevens.

“Nonprofits will be back tomorrow and we’ll have bluegrass as our music for the night.” Stevens said. “We’ll have all kinds of great performers throughout the rest of the event. Friday, at 10 a.m., all of our vendors will be ready to go. Our arts and crafts vendors, market vendors, food, kids attractions will be on Edwards Island … we’ll have a lot of fun things to round out the weekend.”

For more information on the Covered Bridge Celebration, individuals can contact the Chamber at 547-3850.