SYLVESTER -- The town of Sylvester celebrated its 60th Birthday on August 18th and 19th with a Diamond Jubilee Homecoming Celebration, and a great celebration it was. Things got started bright and early with all of the community yard sales on Saturday. The streets were filled with shoppers finding some great bargains. A Parade through the town of Sylvester kicked the celebration off. The Pride of Boone County, Sherman Tide’s Marching Band stopped along the way to treat all of the on lookers with the anthem for Sherman High School the T I D E song. We were also graced with a horse drawn carriage driven by Denny and Lynn Flint of Flints Hardware. The horses were even color coordinated with their bright orange to mark the opening of Denny’s new Universal Stihl Sales and Service Center. Many of the towns children and adults participated in the parade with their decorated bicycles, golf carts and four wheelers all riding in style. Daniels Chevrolet had a mini car driven by the youngest driver in the parade, Juliette Brown. The Whitesville Fire Department participated and riding in the fire truck with them were members of the Seth Midget League Football Team and the Seth Midget League Cheerleaders. Sherman High School Members of the HI-Y along with their sponsor Gayla May also took part in the parade . The Sylvester Baptist Church joined in with their church float decorated up in style to celebrate Sylvester’s 60th Birthday. Throughout the day on Saturday, contest and prizes were going on and lots of things were given away. Members of the Sherman High School HI-Y Program (Mackenzie Smith, Kelsey Williams, Eric Miller, Lacey Pettry, Mackenzie Daniels and Tyler Halstead), worked nonstop for hours running the popcorn, cotton candy and snow cone machines which were free for all to enjoy. There was alot of entertainment. The youngest entertainer was the amazing Abby Bolton, Daughter of Chad and Jacey Bolton of Comfort. She won the hearts of everyone there. Abby is certainly an entertainer. She did a wonderful job singing God Bless America during the opening ceremonies and wowed everyone with her performance Saturday night with a variety of songs. Great Job Abby, I will be waiting to see you on American Idol! The Alpha Community Group headed by Richie “Big Daddy” Johnson at the grill cooked up some Cheeseburgers, Hot Dogs, and Walking Tacos and Dawn Johnson added her own Deep Fried Oreos. It doesn’t get any better than that! “Elvis” arrived with Teddy Bears to give away to the youngsters as he sung the tune “Teddy Bear” Loren Daniel was the winner of the Chili Cook Off on Saturday. The Harley Davidson Poker Run arrived with about 20 bikes. The riders started out at Marmet and arrived at Sylvester about 5:30. Wrestling was a big hit for the young and old alike. If you didn’t make it to the celebration, you really missed out on a good time. I have to say, the entertainment was tremendous. We have so much hidden talent right here in our community. Just like the One Eyed Jack Band that performed on Saturday Night. If you didn’t know you were sitting in Sylvester listening to these guys, you would have thought you were at a huge outdoor concert like Fanfare, The Regatta or the WV State Fair. Members Jeff Asbury, Corey Asbury, Brian Asbury, Mike Hughes, Faron Smith, Heath Stover, and Stanley “Lil Goose” Stewart are amazing. The band performed a variety of hits including Southern Rock, Country Music, Rock and Roll and even some older tunes like Brown Eyed Girl. Their band did an absolutely amazing job on every song they performed. It was a real treat to hear them and nice to see people up and dancing to their tunes in the streets of Sylvester. I can’t, in words, describe to you just how good the One Eyed Jack Band is. You really missed out on a good performance if you didn’t make it to Sylvester. If you ever need a group for an event that you are planning you should give them a call. You will be glad that you did! I would certainly recommend them for our Boone County Fair or any other event. You can reach Jeff Asbury for more information at 304-854-0541. On Sunday, the town provided dinner to everyone. Then, there were lot’s of gospel singers providing entertainment throughout the afternoon. The town treated everyone with a special Birthday Cake to celebrate our town’s 60th Birthday. In addition to the wonderful cake made by Chrissy Herrell of Sylvester, Huskies Ice Cream from Cross Lanes provided frozen custard and ice cream cones. Everything tasted delicious. Pastors David Minturn, Ricky Peters and Ryan Hysell provided gospel messages to end things on Sunday. There were many hours of hard work and planning that went into organizing this event. Mayor Manuel Arvon, Dianne Wiseman and Kim Kincaid have worked for months organizing and preparing for this special weekend. There were long hours put in by the many volunteers on Saturday and Sunday. They worked so very hard but made this a memorable event! Job well done to Mayor Arvon and all of the organizers and Volunteers and to the employees of Alpha Natural Resources for all of the work they did behind the scene that made the event happen.