Drinkard ends tenure as TroyFest chairman
Published 5:33 pm Friday, April 25, 2025
- Submitted Photo Rob Drinkard and Renee Dickerson, Treasurer at the 2024 Artist Award Party. Dickerson is also serving her last year as treasurer before her replacement Jade Blocker takes over in 2026.
For nearly 15 years, Rob Drinkard has served the TroyFest Art & Craft Festival as the chairman. During this time he has helped the festival continue to grow and held strongly on to the ties of the history of the festival celebrating Jean Lake.
“I’ve enjoyed serving my community in this way. I believe in this festival and it’s focus on the arts and artists. The environment for artists traveling the festival circuit has changed over the past decade, and it’s been our goal to try to provide a supportive environment for artists to sell their work.” says Drinkard.
“I had the privilege of coming on board with the festival after some great people built a strong foundation and reputation for the festival. When I took over after Stephanie Baker, I knew I had some big shoes to fill. She, along with Kristy Drinkwater and so many more, worked really hard to make TroyFest a name recognizable festival among artists in the Southeast and beyond.”
Drinkard acknowledged the value of the support from the city of Troy and their efforts to make every detail count. “Being able to count on the mayor and his team to help us with every logistical detail and hospitality aspect continues to be a pivotal part of the success of the festival each year.”
TroyFest has been a big part of Drinkard’s personal life. “I’ve been working on TroyFest for longer than I’ve been married. My wife, Morgan, serves as co-chair and publicity chair and we’ve had two children during this time. Our children love TroyFest and have enjoyed growing up in a community where we can have this type of event.”
Drinkard says it would be hard to start reciting names of all the people who have contributed to the festival’s success, because the list could go on and would probably include hundreds of people. “The businesses who continue to support the festival, the committee members who volunteer their time, the artists who continue to exhibit, and the community who continue to come out and buy from the artists all help the festival going each year, and I’m excited to see it continue.”
