Hundreds of people turned out over the weekend for the annual Mermaid Parade and Festival in Marshall.
It marked the first time the Madison County town along the French Broad River has held the event since Hurricane Helene.
Nyssa Lyon, who lives in Marshall, said the festival’s return is especially meaningful given how hard residents worked to recover after the storm, which destroyed homes and businesses and left Main Street covered in mud and debris.
“Incredibly thankful. I love this town so much,” Lyon told BPR in an interview. “I moved here from New Orleans six years ago, because I wanted to find a rural area that didn’t feel judgmental or closed-off. And this place felt incredibly welcoming. And I’m so thankful that the Mermaid Parade is back.”
Lyon added that the storm recovery effort was “an incredibly difficult thing, and the people in this town did a mind-blowing job with all the work.”
“Everybody was a part of it,” Lyon said. “Everybody just came down and started working, pretty much.”
Another festival-goer, Asheville resident Laura LaVoie, said the event’s return felt like a major milestone in Marshall’s recovery.
“I mean, it’s overwhelming,” Lavoie said. “We come to the festival every year. And obviously, last year we didn’t. To see it grow back like this, to see people participating, to see people dressed up – it’s really heartwarming, right? To see the city come back like it did.”
The two days of festivities included live music, a costume contest, and — the main event — a parade featuring dozens of creative, maritime-themed floats.
In the more than 20 months since Helene, Marshall has forged ahead with rebuilding while gradually welcoming back visitors. The town celebrated its reopening last May with the Magic Days festival, and a few months ago, community members gathered to share ideas about the future of Blannahassett Island, which sustained significant damage due to the storm.
See photos from the Mermaid Festival and Parade below:
