Free food, door prizes and the promise of meeting and greeting neighbors drew hundreds of people to the old Wal-Mart building Thursday night for the Taste of Pike County.

Crowds milled around tables heaped with food and entered numerous drawings for prizes offered by a variety of Pike County area businesses. With so much given away, there was a vast amount to take in - and bags being given away were being used to store all of the promotional freebies.

The community fellowship was the valuable, if intangible, effect of the evening's festivities and one overheard comment perhaps summed up the evening best.

&uot;There's just so much here,&uot; exclaimed one unidentified voice.

With nearly 75 vendors present, the sentiment was on point.

The event was sponsored by the Pike County Chamber of Commerce and was the fourth annual incarnation of the festival.

Young children scampered in awe of the sophisticated technology on display at the Lockheed-Martin booth as older men evaluated outdoor toys such as lawnmowers and weed-destroying devices.

From shrimp to sandwiches, there was food for every culinary desire and even wedding cake for dessert. The aroma of chicken blended seamlessly with the wafting scent of simmering beans from Mossy Grove Schoolhouse Restaurant.

All parts of the community were represented: bouncing young people scrambling from booth to booth with sacks of loot and older folks just sitting for a spell and watching the spectacle.