The 2020 Kimmswick Apple Butter festival is canceled.
The festival, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24-25, will not go on this year due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, city officials announced in August.
“The Kimmswick Mayor and Board of Aldermen along with the Festival Committee has [sic] made the difficult decision to cancel 2020 Kimmswick Annual Apple Festival due to the COVID-19 Pandemic,” the city posted on its Facebook page.
“Our hundreds of vendors and thousands of visitors are from around the country and we do not want to place any person(s) at risk.”
The annual two-day festival is Kimmswick’s largest event of the year, attracting up to 100,000 visitors the last weekend of October to the historic river town and its merchants, restaurants and hundreds of vendors, offering everything from handcrafted goods to apple butter, the festival’s namesake.
Among those vendors is Kimmswick Candle Co., which offers all-natural soy wax candles in a variety of seasonal favorites and everyday scents, including Apple Butter, on its website, kimmswickcandleco.com.
“Please continue to support our small community of shops and restaurants that are open at this time,” the city said in its post.
The cancellation comes weeks after the city decided not to go forward with June’s annual Strawberry Festival, Kimmswick’s second-biggest annual event, also due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Together, proceeds from the two events make up 80% of the town’s working revenue, the city reported on its website.
The cancellations mark the second year of disappointment for retailers, restaurateurs and artisans. In 2019, flooding forced the city to call off the Strawberry Festival and persistent rains all but washed out the first day — traditionally the biggest day — of the Apple Butter Festival.
Located in northern Jefferson County, Kimmswick is home to popular restaurants The Blue Owl Restaurant & Bakery and The Dough Depot, as well as retailers Sparrow + Mason, Mississippi Mud Gallery & Gifts, Cozy Cottage and more.
Both events are already on the calendar for 2021. The Strawberry Festival is slated for June 5-6; the Apple Butter Festival is scheduled for Halloween weekend, Oct. 30-31.
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