The Kimmswick Strawberry Festival has been canceled for a second straight year.
The town announced that the festival, which was scheduled for June 6-7, is being called off because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We did not want to put any of the public at risk,” said Connie Schmitt, Ward 1 alderwoman and festival director. “We also didn’t want to wait until the last minute for our vendors, so that if there is another show somewhere, they can go to that.”
Kimmswick canceled the event last year because of flooding from the Mississippi River.
The city’s Strawberry Festival and its Apple Butter Festival, which is scheduled for Oct. 26-27, make up 80 percent of the town’s budget, Schmitt said.
“This (canceling the Strawberry Festival) is going to hurt us big time. It is two of them in a row. It is going to be hard to come back from that,” Schmitt said. “We will try next year again.”
Schmitt said until last year, the Strawberry Festival never had to be canceled before.
Mayor Phil Stang said Kimmswick, which has an estimated 152 residents based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 numbers, was already dealing with difficult financial times before the pandemic.
A flood in 2019 limited access to Kimmswick to one road for about four months, not only wiping out the Strawberry Festival but also keeping sales tax figures down, Stang said.
The mayor said last year’s flooding was slow moving, so the damage throughout Jefferson County was not as severe as it was in 2015 and 2017. That meant the county did not qualify for FEMA relief, which was bad news for Kimmswick.
“Last year’s flood cost the city over $150,000 to fight, and we got no reimbursement from FEMA,” Stang said.
Kimmswick also was hurt when the first day of last year’s Apple Butter Festival was disrupted by rain, limiting the number of people who attended.
“With Saturday (of last year's Apple Butter Festival) being so bad and having so much cost with extra straw and work to clean up the grounds (following the flooding last year), that was a big impact,” Schmitt said. “We did not make our regular beer sales, which is profit for the city. It is all a big mess. It is going to take the city a long time to recoup.”
Schmitt said not only will the city of Kimmswick’s finances suffer because of the cancellation of the Strawberry Festival but also the business owners in town will feel the pain.
“(The merchants) were counting on it giving them a little boost in June, and that is not going to happen now,” Schmitt said.
She said the Windsor C-1 School District, which raises money at the festival by offering parking on its campuses and using its buses to shuttle people back and forth, will also lose revenue, not to mention local hotels, the bands who were scheduled to play, trash companies hired for the additional cleanup, companies that rent portable restrooms to the town and other businesses that participate in the festival.
“It is like the pandemic; it trickles down,” Schmitt said. “It will hurt everyone a little bit.”
Schmitt said Kimmswick will still sell its strawberry jam, which is expected to arrive in mid-May. The jam will be available for purchase at City Hall, 6041 Third St.
She said those interested in buying the jam may call City Hall at 636-464-7407 to make sure it has arrived before traveling to Kimmswick.
“Hopefully, the shops will be open, and people can come have a nice day in Kimmswick and pick up some jam,” Schmitt said.
