Corbin community celebrates 71 years of NIBROC Festival

Weekday broadcast of WYMT Mountain News First at Four

CORBIN, Ky. (WYMT) - The 71st annual NIBROC Festival kicked off in downtown Corbin on Wednesday, August 9.

Throughout the four day festival, thousands of people are expected to gather to enjoy great times, tasty food and good music.

“You get food, you know, from every place on earth. You know which is weird coming from Corbin, usually this is a pretty sheltered place, but to be able to walk down the street and get food from all over. You know, every country that you can image. It is really such a wonderful thing, and you know you can’t discount the rides either,” said festivalgoers Adam Keith and Josh Gilbert.

One vendor has spent several years serving American classics at the NIBROC Festival.

Harry Alder, with Whitley County Cattlemen’s Association, said one of their items keeps making people come back for more.

“A lot of people have commented that they come to the NIBROC for our ribeye’s. They’ll stop and say ‘I come here every year for this’, and it’s true. It’s just enjoyable serving the people that way,” Alder explained.

While there is good food for the entire family, the festival is also full of rich history.

Executive Director of the SKY Economic Development Agency and Chamber of Commerce Bruce Carpenter said it all started with a group of Corbin business leaders.

“Sitting around one morning having coffee and talking about having some type of event for the community to kind of celebrate the community and the residents that live here. They talked about turning the town upside-down and different things. Someone said we need to turn the town inside out,” said Carpenter.

Mayor Suzie Razmus said she is proud to see how NIBROC has served its community for several decades.

“I think is really just a testament to our community and how much we support each other. We just appreciate getting out and being together,” Razmus added.

The festival rides opened at 6 p.m. and will close at midnight. Live music is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

The festival ends on Saturday.

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