On the ground at Footwash 2015: strippers, booze and 127 people.

The m_gallery_creation_date is Thursday, October 1st.

A construction worker at the Red Barn bar in Demopolis said his coworkers decided to head out of town early last Friday to avoid the bedlam of the annual event.The bartender said it was a good place to get shot.

By day, the majority-African-American event seems like any other large-scale carnival, with hundreds of booths, stands and trailers offering food, drinks and shopping to thousands of people from across the country it draws to the tiny, rural community each year.

Footwash becomes an R-rated scene after the sun sets.The after-hours version of the event has earned it the reputation of being a seedy, dangerous affair.

From open-air gun and drug markets to gambling and prostitution dens, tall tales about what Footwash has to offer run the gamut.There was a "Magic Tent" full of strippers, many people were openly smoking pot, and there was at least one for-keeps dice game underway under the clear night sky last Friday evening.

The positive vibes, focus on music and culture, and recently beefed-up law enforcement presence kept everything to a dull roar and gave the whole history-steeped affair an ambience more reminiscent of a county fair than a dangerous orgy.

People just want to have fun, you know you can drink, party, eat and everyone's down here.As the Footwash festivities were ramping up, a CD and DVD vendor said "We get it in."

A vendor talks to a customer at a festival.csheets@al.com is the email forConnor Sheets.

The nightlife made it a bad place to police because you can't have police officers where people are partying.They said to stay away from the place because of the high temptation level.It's actually a good place.

The event went down without a single arrest or crime reported this year, according to a spokesman for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

The lush flora gives way to a grassy 600-acre field near a few scattered buildings along what has been dubbed Footwash Road as pilgrims reach the end of a cracked, narrow county road.

At any other time of year, the whitewashed Footwash Grocery is the only visible sign that this is where one of the longest-running celebrations of African-American culture and history has been held.

But a nondescript, wood-sided edifice a few minutes' walk away is the true wellspring of what is today called Footwash, as it hosts the monthly meetings of the Fair Hope Benevolent Society.

In order to provide services to the local community, a group of poor black men formed a society in the late 19th century.The benevolent society initially collected dues of 10 cents per month, which were used to help sick folks and foot the bill for burial services and wooden caskets when its members died, services the outfit performs to this day.

The group initially met in a different structure, but for decades the society has gathered every fourth Sunday in the former schoolhouse, according to its current members.A minister gives a religious sermon when women wear white to its meetings.

There is no record of the society ever engaging in a foot-washing ceremony, but rumor has it that the group performed the rite at the fete it held every September, and the name "Footwash" stuck.It was further solidified when a group of city dwellers who traveled to the event years ago joked that they would need to wash their feet.

Tens of thousands of people flock to Footwash every year, most of whom hear about it from friends and family.

It has been going on for a long time and is growing fast.An elderly member of the benevolent society who owns a swath of property on which Footwash takes place said that people are hearing about it throughout the United States and Canada.

After having a meeting, our ancestors would go down in the woods and picnic.

The Fair Hope Benevolent Society has a building at the Footwash festival.csheets@al.com is the email forConnor Sheets.

Many who continue to visit Uniontown to party each September don't know the history of the festival.The society's members still serve as overseers and organizers of the whole experience, inviting everyone to appreciate their shared history and the way it evolved over the years into what is now known as Footwash.

John Ash, a retired drill sergeant who was born in Newbern, served in Korea and Vietnam and lived in South Carolina, Detroit, Germany and Greece before moving back to the area several years ago, has fond childhood memories that draw him to Footwash.

We came here as a family when I was born.At that time, it was called the Grayers.He said that it's still traditional even though they call it the Footwash.

Families used to come on mules and wagons in order to get here.They would kill hogs and do the same things.Everyone had a booth back then.

As the fourth Friday of September approaches, hundreds of vendor tents, stands and RVs crowd the clearing off Footwash Road, blasting hip-hop, soul and jazz from massive speaker rigs and releasing fuel and food fumes into the crisp change-of-seasons air.

The spine that bears the physical and historical weight of Footwash is formed like a city dropped down from the sky.

After crossing the threshold into the largely lawless world of Footwash, many attendees let out cries of joy and excitement and headed to one of the many drink stands.

From a wide array of liquor shots and tallboy beer cans to pineapples lopped in half, dug out and filled with rum mixed with juice or frozen daiquiri mix, the alcohol flows for more than three days.Shopping, games and camaraderie are in high demand over the course of the weekend, and the money generated feeds the local economy like no other event.

Many of the thousands of annual attendants who hail from as far away as Texas, New York and Michigan are attracted to Footwash's friendly atmosphere, wide range of entertainment options, and makeshift family reunion that it has become for many who have moved away from the region.

Some, like first-time Footwasher and outdoor bar vendor James "Gator" Tukes of Atlanta, are drawn mainly by stories of the debaucherous times to be had.

It was more spiritual back in the day, but now it's not.Tukes said he had been told for years that women walk around naked with drinks.The clothes come off with more drinks.I'm here to see them take their clothes off.The whole point of being here is that.

James "Gator" Tukes is a first-time Footwasher and outdoor bar vendor.csheets@al.com is the email forConnor Sheets.

The party peaks between Friday evening and Sunday morning, a time when it never sleeps, though most of its participants, organizers and stall operators do in staggered shifts.They rest their heads in tents and RVs, and on car seats and cots in the backs of their stands, all just feet from the revelry, which lasts through the early-morning hours before mostly petering out around the time when most participants would usually be waking up for work

The scene is chaotic.The nude dancers are largely confined to a single tightly choreographed opaque tent, which, like the gambling area, is tucked away from the view of all but the boldest, most curious partiers.

Footwashers must make their way past rowdy outdoor bars and scowling youths to get to the seedier attractions.At this year's Footwash, the message was clear: if you are bold and confident, you will get in trouble.

Law enforcement officers seem to leave Footwash's nether regions alone.In 2007, a man was shot and killed by his wife, who was sentenced to more than 25 years in prison, despite the fact that the murder occurred out of the fair's dark side.

This year's event remained safe and crime-free, and the police maintained their hands-off approach, as if officers grant the community this one weekend a year to let loose.

"Despite any criticism, the event is peaceful, energetic and positive, and I believe there are years of successful Footwashes still to come," she said.

She said that with so many people, they conduct themselves well because they have a lot of violence.

We don't have all that going on down here.A guy came down from Cleveland a long time ago.He was lying on the ground and he said, "This is the most peaceful place that I have ever been in my life."

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