West (WBAP/KLIF News) – The City of West will grow to ten times its size this weekend as 25,000 people fill the town for Westfest.
The first celebration was held in 1976. Now, organizers say the celebration has taken on greater meaning.
“The reconstruction is pretty much over, the school has been built back up, homes have been rebuilt,” says Westfest’s Brian Muska. “Pretty much, things are back to normal. We’ve kind of moved past that.”
This year, a rebuilt school opened to replace the building that was destroyed in the fertilizer plant explosion in 2013. Also, federal investigators finished an investigation that shows that the explosion was caused by a fire that had been set deliberately.
“I think it’s wonderful the way the town’s coming back,” one volunteer said as she prepared kolache. “It seems slow at times, but I know it takes time.”
Muska says the festival continues to grow with a kolache baking contest, music and dancing. Last year, Westfest introduced a kolache eating contest as well. The eating contest will return this year.
“You can say it’s kind of a homecoming for the town because a lot of the locals look forward to the event,” Muska says. “It brings a lot of families together when someone might have moved away for work.”
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