First ever MILLIE Fest a hit downtown

MILLIE volunteers pose next to their booth at the first annual MILLIE Fest. Left to right, Shang McCain holding Kai McCain, Becky Emmons, Cierra Francisco, Dustie Kurnutt, Monique Hunt, Nikki Maynard, Tawana Ashcraft and Travis Ashcraft.

DAR/Samantha Tucker

MILLIE, Inc. held its first-ever community celebration, MILLIE Fest, Saturday, Nov. 6.

“I think it went over very well. All of our vendors, food trucks were really happy. We had a lot of people come out. The bands did well. So overall, for our first year, I think it was a big success,” said the charity’s founder, Tawana Ashcraft

The event is a smaller version of one planned for 2020, which was put on hold by COVID. Last weekend’s event across from Black River Coliseum still included vendors, bouncy houses and live music.

MILLIE is a charitable foundation founded two years ago in memory of Camille McCain, Ashcraft’s daughter, who died in 2017 in a car accident.

MILLIE distributes a $1,000 annual scholarship and also held its first sporting event last year, the Camille McCain Memorial Softball Tournament. McCain was an avid softball player and has a plaque in her honor on one of the ball diamonds.

Ashcraft said their ultimate goal is to build a sports complex and learning center in Poplar Bluff to be a secure place for kids emotionally and physically, and to continue providing financial aid.

“We just want a safe place for our kids to go,” she explained.

MILLIE volunteers were greatly encouraged by the community response to MILLIE Fest. Ashcraft urged locals to keep an eye out for future events.

“It’s been a really positive thing for us. We have people who donate all the time. And anytime we have an event we have people who are willing to chip in and help us, so we hope to be able to have more events,” she said.

MILLIE extends special thanks to First Class Property Management, Barker’s Towing, Redmond Properties, Steadfast Training, Crave Nutrition, Adworks, Grateful Headz and Shear Expressions Salon, as well as Holly Teague and Jo Nell Miller at Century 21, for their generous support of MILLIE Fest.

More information about MILLIE can be found on the organization’s Facebook page or their website, cmillie24.net, which also has scholarship applications and donation opportunities.