All Smiles at the Charley Clayton Memorial Peep Festival

There are events you photograph, and there are events you feel. The Charley Clayton Memorial Peep Festival is both.

The festival honors Charley Clayton, a Fairmont native with a gift for joy. Years ago, asked on a pageant stage what kind of festival she would dream up if she could, Charley answered without hesitation: Peeps. After she passed in 2022, her family and friends made that answer real. Now in its fourth year and held at Fairmont State University, the Peep Festival carries her spirit forward with pageants, food trucks, live music, and a memorial scholarship for local students chasing careers in entertainment, marketing, and communications.

A festival built on that much heart deserves a booth that keeps everyone laughing.

What we brought

For the Peep crowd we leaned into motion. Instead of a single still photo, every guest left with animated GIFs and boomerangs, the kind of clip you watch three times and text to everyone you know. Kids hammed it up. Families piled in. The line stayed full of springtime color from start to finish.

It was a first for us in some ways too: rolling the animated experience out to a festival audience, all ages, all day. It was a blast.

Why it worked

Charley’s whole idea was that a celebration should be unapologetically fun. The animated booth fit that perfectly, it is hard to be anything but happy when you are mid-boomerang with your friends. Every clip that got shared online carried Charley’s festival a little further, in exactly the spirit she imagined.

We were honored to be there, and we will be cheering the Peep Festival on for years to come.

Hosting a festival or community event in Fairmont, Morgantown, or anywhere in North Central West Virginia? Ask us about our animated GIF and boomerang experience, it is a crowd favorite. Reserve your date.