By Ashley Sinclair

The Spring Folly is a large event in Kernersville, North Carolina, that attracts approximately 40,000 visitors from all over, and is planned by the Kernersville Chamber of Commerce.

The first annual Spring Folly was held during May of 1993, and was set to coincide with the Tour DuPont bicycle race. The following year, Kernersville was the starting point for the final leg of this international event, which was televised worldwide and seen by millions of viewers. In 1997, the Kernersville Spring Folly was named one of the Top 20 Events in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.

One of the objectives of the Spring Folly is to make available good food. To serve this objective, local civic clubs have agreed to provide a variety of foods and are the exclusive providers of food for the Spring Folly. This allows the community to showcase our civic clubs and volunteers while providing these clubs with an opportunity to generate monies, which are in turn distributed back into the community in support of youth educational programs, scholarships, and similar activities.

Arts and Crafts displays offer buying opportunities for visitors, while at the same time provides an opportunity for artisans and craftsmen to display their talents and crafts. The Kernersville Arts and Crafts Guild organizes and directs this part of the Spring Folly. Under the Arts and Crafts Guilds direction, this section of the festival has grown to over 100 individuals displaying and selling their hand-crafted products.

Over the years, a section for commercial displays and sales has grown and is highly favored and supported by visitors. In addition to the sales of traditional festival fare, T-shirts, jewelry, do-it-yourself art for the kids, games, novelties, and fun clothing, local commercial establishments are displaying and selling their products.

No festival is complete without entertainment, and the Kernersville Spring Folly is no exception. The entertainment is available on two separate stages and begins Friday at 6 PM through 10 PM, starting again on Saturday at Noon and continuing until approximately 10 PM. Aside from music, attendees can also expect the Old Salem Chapter Cruise-In, Clown Face Painting, Chain Reaction Action Sports BMX, Magic Shows, Chainsaw Artist, Gem Mining, Sand Art, Candle Painting, and so much more! Rides and entertainment for the kids, and the young at heart, are provided each year by Brinkley Entertainment. The number of featured rides and amusement events increases every year.

The Spring Folly name was chosen for this festival as a play on the name of our most recognizable, historic and famous structure, Körner’s Folly. Körner’s Folly was built in 1878 as bachelor quarters, studio, and stables for Jule Körner, grandson of Joseph Kerner, for whom Kernersville is named. The stables formed the right lower floors of the building, and the bachelor quarters were situated on the left lower floors. The studios were on the upper floor and the carriageway cut directly through the center of the building, dividing the bachelor quarters and stables. In 1886, Jule Körner married Polly Alice Masten, and the home began to take on a different nature. In addition to becoming a family residence, Jule used the house to showcase his interior decorating business and a basis for his advertising design business, which featured the highly successful “Bull Durham” barn painting displays. Eventually the home was modified to include the first Little Theatre in the United States. This heritage of arts and culture continues today through local civic organizations and the Kernersville Little Theatre.

Please make arrangements to visit Kernersville on the first full weekend in May for good family fun provided for you by the supportive sponsors and businesses of Kernersville which can be viewed on our website at KernersvilleSpringFolly.com. If you missed it this year, then we will see you in 2025 on May 2nd through 4th.

For additional information regarding this event, contact Kernersville Chamber of Commerce at 336.993.4521 KChamber@KernersvilleNC.com, or visit the KCC
website at www.KernersvilleNC.com.