Kimmswick will officially ring in the start of summer this weekend when it hold its annual Strawberry Festival.
Festivities are set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
“The Strawberry Festival is definitely Kimmswick’s kickoff to the summer,” City Administrator Sarah Mesnage said. “We are very excited about it. It is opening weekend to all events going on in Kimmswick. It seems like after the Strawberry Festival, we have stuff going on almost every weekend until Christmas.”
Kimmswick has two major festivals each year – the Strawberry Festival and the Apple Butter Festival, which will be held Oct. 25-26 this year.
Approximately 40,000 people typically attend the Strawberry Festival over the two-day event, and former Mayor Phil Stang said last year’s festival raised close to $70,000 for the town. City officials have said that revenue from the Strawberry Festival and Apple Butter Festival provide about 80 percent of the town’s annual operating funds.
Mayor Kenneth Kraft III said more than 200 vendors are expected to take part in the Strawberry Festival, and the town’s businesses and restaurants will be open during the event.
Kraft said about 30 to 35 percent of the vendors will be new to this year’s festival, and plenty of past vendors will return. Mesnage said more than 40 of the vendors will sell food.
Unlike in the past, the city will not sell strawberry jam at this year’s festival, although plenty of the town’s shops and vendors will sell it.
“There will be plenty of people to purchase (strawberry jam) from,” he said.
Mesnage said an abundance of other strawberry-themed items will be sold, like chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry shortcake, strawberry lemonade, strawberry butter, strawberry soda and fresh locally grown strawberries.
“Pretty much anything (strawberry related) you can think of, we are going to have.”
Mesnage said plenty of non-strawberry food and beverages will be available throughout the weekend, too.
“We have all types of different foods,” she said. “There will be barbecue, sweet treats, southern-style cooking, really a little bit of everything.”
Four musical acts will perform during this year’s festival.
On Saturday, Wings of Eagles will perform from 12:30-5 p.m. at Veterans Park, which is near the corner of Second and Market streets, and Teresa Moore will play the Appalachian Mountain dulcimer from 1-4 p.m. near Kimmswick City Park on Beckett Street between Fourth and Fifth streets.
On Sunday, Harvest Drive will perform from 1:30-5 p.m. at Veterans Park, and the Encore By Rhapsody band will perform from 1-4 p.m. near Kimmswick City Park.
“The music adds a lot to the festival,” Mesnage said. “The Wings of Eagles and Harvest Drive bands are returning entertainment that people absolutely loved last year. Teresa will play traditional music that predates bluegrass.
“We have more picnic tables this year. We plan on setting up areas around the music entertainment to allow people to sit, enjoy their food, hang out and listen to the music while taking a break from their shopping.”
Mesnage said festivalgoers also will have the chance to enjoy the new playground, pavilion and other improvements at Kimmswick County Park, 5900 Mississippi St., near the Mississippi River.
“People can step away from the festival activities and get a breather,” she said. “That park is a great spot for that.”
Roads leading into Kimmswick will close at 8 a.m. each day of the festival. Parking is available at the Windsor C-1 School District campus off Hwy. 61-67 in Imperial for $10, and shuttles will transport people to and from the festival for no charge.
Limited handicap parking is available at Windsor Elementary School in Kimmswick, and if the weather permits, parking will be available in two fields off Hwy. K. It costs $10 to park in either of the two fields. Kimmswick owns one of the fields, and the town added 20 handicap parking spaces to that area. The Windsor district owns the other field.
For information, call 636-464-7407, go to gokimmswick.com or visit the City of Kimmswick Events Facebook page.