It marked the eighth time the city has hosted the day-long celebration of racing, food and music.
“Thunderfest rocks!” said Anna Liles as she perused food offerings with a co-worker.
“It’s a great day for a Thunderfest,” her co-worker Crystal Shepard said. “This is a wonderful way to spend your lunch hour for sure.”
Thunderfest dates to the years when Rockingham hosted a NASCAR race. Friday marked the second time the event was tied to ARCA — the Automobile Racing Club of America. The speedway will be hosting the Carolina 200 there Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We are excited to once again host another Thunderfest event in downtown Rockingham,” said Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin.
“It has been a lot of work for our city employees, but a lot of fun also,” he said.
“I appreciate all the efforts they put into this event,” he said.
“It is good to have racing back again in Richmond County. It is going to be a beautiful weekend,” McLaurin said. “We are glad to be able to add our support to Andy Hillenburg and Rockingham Speedway for bringing racing to the area. We hope everyone will take advantage of and enjoy the various activities associated with the weekend.”
Patrons could find hamburgers, hot dogs, kielbasa and barbecue frying atop a replica of an old Model-T automobile at Friday’s event.
“I always wanted a hot dog cart,” said former restaurant owner Reggie McKoy of Monroe. “I was talking to one of my customers and he told me about this one. He said a lot of people were wanting to buy it, and I should come have a look.”
After consulting with his wife, McKoy was sold. They’ve been vending under Model “T” Cruising Grill and Catering for about two years while continuing to hold full-time jobs.
“This all came from Greensboro,” said Gordon Dixon of Hamlet over the popping of fried apple pies. “We bought their equipment and started this up.” When finished, he and co-worker Betty Seagraves, also of Hamlet, rolled the crispy pastries in powdered sugar. Proceeds from their fried apple pie sales will go toward the building fund at Church of God in Prophecy.
“It’s our first Thunderfest and I like it a lot,” Catherine Deese said. “There’s a lot of stuff for children to do.”
Her son, Jerry Chavis, said he enjoyed rock climbing and looking at the ARCA cars.
“We’re just relaxing, enjoying things, watching the people,” Gary Burgess said with his arm around his best girl, Joann Shepard. “It’s a pretty day to do it. It’s real nice, we need to do stuff like this more often, once a year just isn’t enough.”
Butch Robinbark was showing off his guitar skills on the square.
“I’m just doing my music and all,” Robinbark said. “The people are real nice.”
Ken and Betty McDougald lived in Rockingham for 20 years, until they moved away about four years ago. Friday was something of a homecoming for them.
“I’m glad to see it’s going again,” Ken said. “We were involved with it when they had the big races, I’m really happy to see this come back to Rockingham.”
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