Not many towns have a flowing well as a centerpiece.

Years ago, the town of Glenwood recognized the uniqueness of their water source and decided to build a festival around it. So, the town designated the third Saturday in May as the date for the Festival at the Well celebration.

Saturday, May 15 will be the 17th Annual Festival at the Well and will kickoff at 9 a.m. with a parade in downtown Glenwood and wind up – or down – at 8 p.m. with a community street dance in downtown Glenwood.

Many of the activities and much of the entertainment will be “around the well.”

“The Festival at the Well features a parade, a children’s beauty pageant, an ‘Around the Well’ cakewalk, arts and crafts, games, food booths – including the Goshen Volunteer Fire Department’s ‘delicious’ smoked barbecue — a bushel of door prizes and entertainment that includes gospel, country and bluegrass music and dancers,” said Steve Holmes, publicity committee member. “The musicians, singers and dancers are from Crenshaw, Coffee and Pike counties and are popular with the local folks so they’ll draw a big crowd throughout the day and on into the night.”

The entertainment will get in full swing around 1 p.m. when Harlan Burton takes the stage.

“Harlan is a solo gospel artist and plays several instruments so he is very entertaining,” Holmes said. “Following Harlan, the dancers, Anna Leigh Johnson, the Boot Scootin’ Senior Line Dancers and the Colley Senior Cloggers, will take the stage.”

The Becky Welch Gospel Band will play its special brand of traditional music at 3:30 p.m. and will be followed by Powergrass Bluegrass Band.

Hannis Holmes and Robert Little, who are karaoke kings, will take the stage during the changing of the bands to entertain the crowd.

“At 5:30 another multi-talented musician, Jarrett Flint, will be the featured entertainer followed by the Benton Brothers from Pike County,” Holmes said.

At 6:30 p.m. Elvis will be at the Well.

“Mary Sexton lines up our entertainment and she is a big Elvis fan so she’s got an outstanding Elvis impersonator coming. Everyone should really enjoy Brian Mitchell as Elvis,” Holmes said.

“Then at 8 o’clock, the street dance will get started. The street dance brings our Festival at the Well to a close in a big way. Everybody let’s their hair down and we have a great time.”

The featured band for the street dance is County Line with Benji Sanders.

“County Line is a popular band in our area and the band plays a variety of music that should appeal to all ages,” Holmes said. “We invite everyone to Glenwood on Saturday for the 17th Annual Festival at the Well. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

An all day ticket is $5 and those who purchase the all-day ticket may come and go as they wish all day and into the night. A day ticket is $2. After 5 p.m. tickets are $4.

Tables for the street dance are $100 and a few are still available by calling 334-335-3165, 335-3426 or 335-4360.

The proceeds from the Festival at the Well support the scholarship fund for young people with roots in the Glenwood community.