Festival far better on the holiday, but …

As we celebrated our nation’s birthday last week, many of us spent time with extended family and friends. For us at the Chamber, it was a busy and somewhat stressful time as we organized and hosted the Festival of America.

We’re quite proud of our awesome fireworks show and live music, and if you didn’t have a chance to hear Lila Rose, the Jesse Quandt Band and the Washington National Guard band, you really missed some fantastic music.

Last year, with the 4th falling on a Tuesday, we had made the decision to move the festival to the weekend before the 4th of July. Our thinking was that more vendors AND attendees would be able to make a weekend show more manageable with a work week schedule. One of those things happened, and we had over 40 vendors, but we also had only half the “normal” attendee crowd.

In fact, folks were quite cranky about us “messing” with a national holiday.

OK, lesson learned; we moved the festival back to its spot on the 4th this year … but that resulted in about half the number of vendors, as a Tuesday/Wednesday show was impossible for many vendors to pull off, particularly those who have other jobs besides vending.

We kept our fingers crossed and hoped we’d get the crowd back ... and boy, did the public deliver. We hosted THOUSANDS of people in the park, and the only downside was that our limited food vendors were SWAMPED.

We encourage those of you who were disappointed in the long food lines to reach out to vendors you might know and tell them what a great show we put on, and what awesome music and fireworks we have.

And as a final thought, if you feel the need to criticize something you are unhappy with, remember that there are people who have VOLUNTEERED a lot of their time and energy to the festival effort. Criticism is always easier to hear if it’s constructive and comes with a potential solution. Better yet, volunteer to help with the event and know that a whole lot of people will benefit from your efforts.

Peggy Nevsimal

Executive Director,

GCDA Chamber

of Commerce