By Mike Connolly
For most of each year, the Fall Fest committee works hard planning a weekend of fun that the weathercan undo in an afternoon. This year, unfortunately, it did.
Saturday, October 3, gave us a wonderful day in the park, with the artists, food vendors, performers,
neighborhood visitors, and plenty of Candler Park neighbors out enjoying it. While rain threatened and even briefly shut down the stages on Saturday, we still had a fantastic turnout that day. The Chickasaw Mudpuppies closed us out by rocking on the electric stage (and if you’d like to hear a few of the bands you might have missed, check out the links on the website). Prior to the Fest weekend itself, the Tour of Homes was a rousing success, with eight homes on the tour and about 200 tickets sold, and many of our neighbors went all in for the Fall Ball.
The forecast for Sunday was dismal, though. Out of an abundance of caution for everyone’s safety, the committee made the tough decision to cancel Sunday’s afternoon activities. While I know it stung, it was the right thing to do. In addition to addressing the safety concerns, we were able to provide clear guidance to our vendors, artists, and event staff, some of whom were already making plans to pack up.
In the meantime, I want to give a huge shout-out to the entire Fall Fest committee, our student
volunteer leads, the Tour of Homes and Fall Ball teams, and every volunteer who worked in all hours and weather conditions. I’d also like to thank our sponsors; their generosity makes this festival possible every year.
We’ll be back next fall, hopefully with clear blue skies for everyone. Until then, I want to say again how much we appreciate all of you who came out to support the festival, our team, and our neighborhood.
See you next year!