Rain fell on quite a few parades and other holiday events  throughout the region this July 4th weekend, including the Piedmont Back Street Community Festival.
Organizers didn't let the weather get them down, though, with the same spirit that fired the countless hours of preparation, inspiring an uplifting, "We shall overcome" attitude with the rain.
The Friday-morning kickoff at Piedmont's Walden Park was a wet affair, with workers trimming large plastic sheets to protect the tables from the rain. The weather didn't improve much through the rest of the weekend, but spirits never flagged.
The Back Street festival is a community celebration in the truest sense. Beginning as an informal gathering of friends and neighbors who lived on Paxton and Water streets, the "reunion" has grown into a celebration of life in Piedmont as a whole.
"As you know," the organizers stated in their welcome packet, " Back Street people always went out of their way to treat everyone as family. There were no strangers."
So it is with the Back Street Community Festival.
We applaud everyone who worked to make this festival a success. Festivals like Back Street don't just happen; they are the result of extensive preparation. According to the background materials, folks had worked since November, 2006 to plan and organize the three-day event. It showed.
In addition to all of those people behind the scenes, the face of the festival, in its many volunteer helpers, was a bright, smiling one, in spite of the rain.
Beyond its signature festival, held every few years, the Back Street Community Festival Committee works year-round to improve Piedmont, sponsoring a spring clean-up, painting area churches, and providing seniors with small gifts at Christmas.
Area residents can help defray expenses from the festival, and support the larger mission of the Back Street group, by making donations payable to the Piedmont Back Street Community Festival, c/o Tina Green, Treasurer, 15 Dundee St., Piedmont, WV, 26750.