The 2018 Bell Tower Festival in Jefferson is now in the books.

The weekend started Friday evening with the Opening Ceremonies and the Tower of Fame Award. This year’s recipient is Terry Rich. The award is given to someone who lived in Greene County and whose personal or professional accomplishments internationally, nationally or statewide brings pride to Greene County. The Iowa Lottery CEO from Cooper talked about what this award meant for him.

“I think looking back on life I think everyone would loved to be recognized by your best friends and people that influenced you the most. And there’s no doubt that Greene County has a lot of people that have influenced my life. This honor coming from my home area really means a lot.”

Another highlight of the “Carnival Lights, Rockin’ Nights” festival was the variety of music, which Bell Tower Festival Chair Emily Neese said on Saturday was a big draw.

“I’m big into music and I like all kinds. We’re listening to jazz right now, we’ve got rock later on tonight, we’ve got Christian music going on this afternoon. (We’ve got) Something here for everybody that’s for sure.”

The music also kicked off Friday night with a local “all-star” group called “Jefferson Rocks: Four Generations of Greene County Rockers.” Bassist Parker Willis explained how he got to play in the band.

“When I got the call to do this I didn’t really have a good excuse to say ‘no,’ and not to say I would’ve said no or anything. But I Iove playing shows and what better way to do it than do it here in the community. I mean I had some time off after recording the new Green Death album. Kind of helps me decompress a little bit from all the craziness that we play.”

To see pictures from the festival, check out the Raccoon Valley Radio photo album on our Facebook page.