Glasgow Festival Revives 50-Year Tradition, Funds Scholarships

A 50-year-old community tradition is getting a second life in Glasgow, Kentucky, and it's bringing scholarships along with the celebration.

The Old Timers Festival returns to Luska J. Twyman Park on September 5th for its sixth year since being revived during the pandemic. What started as a basketball game created by local legend Charles "Big Game" Hunter decades ago became a beloved reunion before fading out in the 1990s when interest waned and the original park fell into disrepair.

Barrett Wright, whose uncle started it all, joined forces with Nathan Allen and Bernard Francis during COVID-19 lockdowns to bring the tradition back. They formed Old Timers Reunion as a nonprofit and moved the event to Twyman Park, named for Glasgow's first African American mayor.

The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with food trucks, a DJ, bounce houses, cornhole, basketball, and cash prizes. Every guest gets a free raffle ticket at the door with prizes given throughout the day.

The event will honor its roots by presenting plaques to original Old Timers, recognizing both someone who has passed away and a living community elder.

The Ripple Effect

The real magic happens beyond festival day. Old Timers Reunion now runs a yearlong scholarship program offering $1,000 to students at Glasgow, Caverna, and Barren County schools.

Students earn the money through action, not just applications. They complete 20 hours of volunteer work, design and run their own fundraiser with support from the organization, and write about what they learned from the experience.

Wright says the scholarship does double duty: it helps students afford college while pulling young people into the Old Timers tradition. That ensures the reunion his uncle started five decades ago won't fade again.

The group is also working to improve Twyman Park itself, including widening a bridge for safety. They're building something that lasts, one scholarship and one festival at a time.

A basketball game became a reunion, disappeared for years, and came back as something bigger than before.