Although the 34th annual Guinea Jubilee is still more than a week away, the celebration officially kicked off Sunday afternoon, as approximately 140 people attended the unveiling of the 2013 Guinea Jubilee print during a reception at the Abingdon Ruritan Club, Bena.

Later that day, Miss Guinea Jubilee and other winners were crowned at the Little Darlin’s Pageant, a new feature of the annual celebration of all things Guinea.

The Guinea Jubilee festival will be held next Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28, on the Ruritan Club grounds.

Event co-chairs Brook and Tara Thomas welcomed everyone to the unveiling, which also included an introduction of this year’s grand marshal, recognition of past grand marshals (including a large number in attendance on Sunday) and the announcement of the winners of the Achilles Elementary School student art contest. The contest winners will be featured in the festival program.

For the third year in a row, artist Lee Abston won the pos...