48th Annual Deer Festival

The 48th annual Jasper County Deer Festival may go down in history as the windiest Saturday in November. However, more than 300 runners braved the chill Saturday morning and took to the streets of Monticello for a 5K, following a one-mile fun run that some little tykes and others participated in. While they were running, vendors were setting up their wares and trying to tie down their tents and anything that didn’t have significant weight. Of the vendors that succeeded, many did not make it through the day. But many did, and lots of people visited, and enjoyed the festivities and the food of the annual festival. Katelin Villareal was crowned Deer Festival Queen, and Madison Fish was named first runner-up. Runners in each age group of the 5K received trophies, with Alan Black of Hillsboro leading the pack to come in first again. A complete list of finishing times is available online from Classic Race Services. Sherry Braley won the gun given away by the Deer Festival sponsored, the Monticello Jasper County Chamber of Commerce. Tracey Nelson won the quilt raffled by the Jasper Memorial Hospital auxiliary. The trailer raffled off by the food bank was won by Travis Whitby, who was also one of the winners of the venison cook-off, with his cooking partner, Floyd Spurling. Other cooking winners were Patsy Evans and Jimmy Mudd. Kaylee Gentes won the prize for the youngest successful hunter; Dylan Pitts had the heaviest deer. Banks Benton got the prize for the deer with the most points. See more scenes from Deer Festival 2014 on Page 14.