Cowan Railroad days SCHEDULE
Today• 5:15 p.m. Heavenly Bound Cloggers• 6 p.m. Entertainment by Don & Karen McNatt; beauty pageant registration.Saturday• 7:30 p.m. 5K run (registration at 6:30 a.m.; start and finish at Railroad Museum)• 10 a.m. Water balls; free for children, $5 for adults• 10 a.m. Little Hobo Contest (ages 2-10)• 11:00 a.m. Total Tumbling• Noon. Square dancers from Estill Springs, Tenn.• 1 p.m. Sonny’s Dance Studio• 2 p.m. Robert L. Clarkson• 3 p.m. Mark Kelly Hall• 4 p.m. Classic car cruise-in• 6 p.m. Talent showSunday• 1 p.m. Arheala Taylor• 2 p.m. Simms Family
Cowan, Tenn., will help visitors track down a bit of the city’s history during Railroad Days this weekend.
The three-day festival, which lasts through Sunday, is a fundraiser for the nonprofit Cowan Railroad Museum, housed in the 1904 Depot at 108 Front St.
The railroad has been part of the city’s history since 1849 when construction began to bore a railroad tunnel through the mountain two miles southeast of town, according to an online account. The Cumberland Mountain Tunnel was finished in 1852 before the railroad actually made it to Cowan from Nashville. The railroad and tunnel still exist today.
The festival will include special exhibits and demonstrations, arts, crafts, food vendors, 5K run, beauty pageant, talent show, cruise-in, misfire engines, tractor show, children’s games and water balls (described as human hamster balls).
Cowan is accessible from Interstate 24 at Milepost 134.