Hardinsburg Summer Fest Brought Big Crowds and Local Fun

The small town of Hardinsburg came alive this past Friday evening, July 11, as the Hardinsburg General Store hosted its third annual Summer Festival. This summer festival has quickly grown into one of Washington County’s most popular summer traditions. From 4 to 9 pm, the store and surrounding area at 8674 W Radcliff Rd was bustling with excitement, delicious aromas, and the sounds of community connection. Some attendees even brought their dogs!

Various vendors were set up selling items – many of which were homemade – and the front of the parking lot was lined with several food truck vendors. You could find just about anything you would want to eat!

“We had a great turnout,” said Hardinsburg General Store employee Darren Byler. “We weren’t sure what kind of attendance we were going to have because of the heat, but overall, we are quite pleased.”

“We actually had a slightly better turnout last year,” commented Janice Davis, one of the organizers. “Last year I believe we had around 800 people show up, and this year is closer to 600… which is still a great turnout!”

“What I love about this festival is that it is different every year,” said Shay Trueblood, the other festival organizer. “Sometimes we’ll have the same vendors, but we’re seeing that each year we get vendors coming to participate from further and further away.”

“I definitely love the community involvement,” added Davis. “People will come into the store after the festival and say things like, ‘I was at the event, and it was awesome!’ Bringing people together and watching them have fun is what I love the most.”

“And watching it all come together is great too,” Trueblood remarked. “It’s a lot of work!”

Darren Byler

Janice Davis and Shay Trueblood

At its peak, the festival was so well attended that it was very difficult to find a parking spot. And if you are familiar with the general store, you know that it has a massive parking lot!

After speaking with the Hardinsburg General Store owner, Mark Ratzloff, it was clear that he has a strong passion for the community and loves to provide fun events for Washington County residents to enjoy. He also provided information regarding upcoming events much like the summer festival. Two of which will be the car show and fall festival. The car show will be on Saturday, August 23, and the fall festival will be a two-day event held on October 10 and 11.

Owner Mark Ratzloff

“We usually start in May, and we do an event here like this every month until November with the exception of September. We have two events in Palmyra (Pow Wow) and Lanesville (Heritage Weekend) in September,” said Ratzloff. “Otherwise, we do something every month here, and next month will be our car show. Last year was our first year doing the car show, and it turned out really good. We even had guys cruising by with hot rods that saw the event and pulled in to join us!

“What I really love about doing this is seeing the people come out and visit and connect together. I love that,” continued Ratzloff. “This event is second to our June open house. We have a customer appreciation celebration for that, and we usually feed around 600-700 people here that day. It’s free food, and people like to come and hang out for several hours. It really brings the community together. And from a business perspective, I like to see the public come in and browse the store. It’s not about buying, but it’s about them learning what we offer here. I love to see that too.”

As the evening came to a close, the 2025 Hardinsburg General Store Summer Festival once again proved itself to be a well-loved tradition in Washington County. Despite the summer heat and a slight dip in attendance from the previous year, the event was a clear success. Thanks to the efforts of organizers Shay Trueblood and Janice Davis, along with the continued support and vision of the Hardinsburg General Store owner Mark Ratzloff, the festival remains a staple in the town of Hardinsburg and Washington County as a whole. For those who missed this year’s festivities, there are still many opportunities ahead, with monthly events planned through the fall. You do not want to miss what they have planned!

Enjoy plenty of photos from the event below!