More than two decades ago, a group of people in the town of Mantachie decided to put community first. With only one thought in mind - the betterment of the place they called home - these visionary leaders developed the idea of a festival.

They called it Mantachie Fest. And so in the summer of 1987, plans got under way to celebrate the Mantachie area and all of the surrounding communities.

While festivals are sometimes the means to an end for bringing in money, this group's main objective was to bring in the people of the community in support of local organizations and projects that would, in turn, benefit them all.

From humble beginnings, the festival has continued to grow year after year and that success is directly related to its solid foundation of community volunteers.

Two volunteers, Dan Walton and Tommy David Franks, have been a part of the festival committee since it began 20 years ago and exemplify the continued commitment needed to keep projects like this successful.

And not only have the volunteers continually come together in this effort, but the festival continues to give back to the community.

The festival committee continually gives money back to the community efforts, one of the most involved being the improvement of Mantachie park. This year, the money will go to help finish the school's new baseball and softball fields.

As the theme of this year's festival t-shirt proclaims, Mantachie is truly the "center of an ideal rural community."

All proceeds from this year's event, including T-shirt sales, will go to benefit the Ratliff RCDC, the members of which will be on-hand helping with the festival.

Congratulations to the Festival committee, its many volunteers and to the original group who saw a need to bring the community together.

The power of one idea has truly generated a community festival success story.