GRIFTON — Community members honored a pair of Shad Festival stalwarts recently when they named a roadway beside the Grifton Depot for Tommy and Jean Sugg.
More than 50 people showed up for the surprise during the Shad Festival Committee volunteer luncheon at the depot on April 18. Committee members, volunteers and town employees attended.
Committee Vice President Tyra Sparrow said the Suggs are the heartbeat of the festival and more than deserving of the honor.
“I was approached by Mr. Tommy and Miss Jean’s very good friends, Rick and Joan Gaddy, and they said, ‘This needs to happen and we know you can do it,’” said Sparrow. “So along with the Shad Festival Committee, the Town of Grifton’s Board of Commissioners and the Town Manager Oryan Lowry, we had this road right here beside the depot named Sugg Shad Alley for them.”
Tommy Sugg said that he has been off and on the Shad Festival committee for 52 years, but he has been involved for most of that time.
“We never expected that,” he said. “It’s really appreciated and I guess work and passion does pay off.”
“It was a total surprise,” Jean Sugg said. “We were kind of meandering up to the deck and I saw John Sugg, then I looked and there was the rest of the crowd. I mean, they really surprised us and it does mean a lot.”
Sparrow said that and there are many people who have been memorialized after they are gone, and that members of the committee and the community all wanted to honor the Suggs while they are still here to enjoy the recognition.
Randall Hart, president of the committee, said that the Suggs have done so much for the Town of Grifton and the Shad Festival, adding that some people don’t realize Tommy Sugg has been involved with the festival since its beginning.
“Tommy had a little bit to do with the design of the Shad emblem when it started showing up all over town,” Hart said. “He’s worked so much and we’re just fortunate to have two people like him and his wife here in his town.”
Hart said Jean Sugg has always been perky and happy, and always gives her all to the community.
“A few years back she was doing the Christmas parade with her knee swollen up before she had to go get a knee replacement, and I asked her, ‘How you are able to do all of what you’re doing with your knee like it is,’” said Hart. “She looked at me and smiled and said, ‘The show must go on.’ That’s her attitude and that’s what her and Tommy have done for this town, and we’re fortunate to have them.”
Town Commissioners Jesse Daigneault and Claude Kennedy also paid tribute to the Suggs.
“Miss Jean and Mr. Tommy are mentors of mine, and they are always giving back to the community,” said Daigneault. “I’m glad we were able to honor them today and name the street after them, because not only are they involved with the Shad Festival, but they’re involved with multiple events in town. If we ever have anything going on, Tommy and Jean are always there.”
Kennedy said that Tommy and Jean have been “the backbone, the life support, and everything positive that you can think of to say” regarding their association with Grifton and the Shad Festival.
“They are the Shad festival,” said Kennedy. “I think they have done a fantastic job of pulling all this together and making things work, and it’s just a fun event that we have every year.”
Sparrow said they just wanted to share their appreciation for everything that Tommy and Jean Sugg have done for the festival
“In recent years they came back and hit it hard, they have revived this festival, and it’s bigger and better than we could ever have possibly imagined,” said Sparrow. “They have done so much for the community and it’s not just in the Shad festival, they’ve helped save me in my times of grief. They’ve done it for so many other people — they’re just two wonderful, wonderful people.”
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