Organizers said this year’s Twin City Days festival may have been the biggest in its 28-year history, drawing thousands over the three-day event.
The event, sponsored by the Twin City Area Chamber of Commerce, was held Sept. 8-10 in venues across Festus and Crystal City.
“I definitely think this was the largest crowd we’ve ever had,” said former chamber administrator Tonda Breeze, who has been on the organizing committee since its inception in 1994. “To stand at the top of Main Street and look out over this big sea of people is just so neat.”
It can be tough, however, to come up with exact numbers.
“I’m terrible at that kind of thing,” Breeze said. “And it’s not just me. You could ask somebody and they’d say 10,000 people; another person might be sure it was 2,000. It’s just hard to put a number on it.”
Kirk Mooney, another original Twin City Days organizing committee member, said this year’s festival was “fantastic.”
“There was a big crowd at the Mayor’s Breakfast, the seniors event,” he said. “Main Street was packed, and there was a big crowd at the Hot Wheels races. All the (organizers) seemed to be pleased with the turnout.”
Mary Zebrowski, the chamber’s executive director, is new to the job, so it was her first time to help organize Twin City Days.
“I can’t believe the mountain of tiny details that go into making this a success,” she said. “I never knew any of that as a participant. You go and have fun and everything just goes so smoothly. But it takes so much time and effort to put something like this together.”
There were a couple of new twists to the festival that added to its success, organizers said.
“We set up a tent on South Adams so people would have a place to rest in the shade,” Zebrowski said. “It was constantly full of people eating, resting, feeding babies.”
Another innovation helped streamline service at the beer tent for the Sept. 10 concert at Larry G. Crites Memorial Park in Festus.
“We set it up where people had to buy tickets, and it went much faster,” Breeze said. “We checked IDs and gave them a wristband so we didn’t have to keep checking every time.”
The car show on Sept. 10 along Main Street included themed music this year.
”I think that added a little something to the show,” Breeze said. “They had a much bigger crowd of participants than last year. Also, the folks at (First Baptist Church Festus-Crystal City) did an awesome job, as always, with their family fun event. This year they had a (wingless) F-4 Phantom jet on display, and I heard a lot of people talking about that, how exciting it was.”
The weather was nearly perfect during festival, with two damp exceptions on Sept. 10.
“The first little rain came just at the end of the Main Street/Bailey Road events,” Zebrowski said. “Vendors were kind of shutting down anyway, and the crowds were smaller by then, so it wasn’t that bad.”
The second rain came in around 9:15 p.m. during the 80s band concert and had a much greater impact.
“It started just pouring right after the band’s first break,” Mooney said. “People were fleeing; I think probably 90 percent of the crowd was gone in 10 minutes. There was enough rain and lightning we wanted to be on the safe side, so we canceled.”
About 2,000 people were at the concert when the downpour started, Mooney said.
When the rain hit, organizers had already collected more than $1,000 for a 50/50 drawing scheduled late in the evening.
“We didn’t have names, just ticket stubs, so we decided to donate the money to BackStoppers,” Mooney said. “We announced it on stage, and the few people with umbrellas who were left cheered.”
Zebrowski said she is thankful to Breeze and to administrative assistant Diana Stueve, both of whom are retiring after this year.
“Having them here to help has been just amazing,” she said.
Breeze said she hopes to spend time with her 99-year-old father and follow her grandchildren’s activities during her retirement.
“Mary has just been the perfect person for the job,” she said. “And because of that, we feel comfortable leaving. But we’ll never leave her stranded. We’ll be here if she needs us.”