Kimmswick was bustling with visitors June 5 and 6 when the small Mississippi River town held its first Strawberry Festival since 2018.
Connie Schmitt, Ward 1 alderwoman and festival director, said an estimated 35,000 people turned out over the two-day festival, which was canceled in 2019 because of flooding and last year because of COVID-19.
The city also canceled the annual Apple Butter Festival in 2020 because of the pandemic.
“After canceling three festivals over the last two years, it was good to see Kimmswick come alive again,” Schmitt said.
Tammy Benack, Kimmswick’s city clerk and treasurer, said the Strawberry Festival and Apple Butter Festival, which is scheduled for the last weekend of October, make up about 80 percent of the town’s budget.
On Monday, Schmitt said city officials were still calculating how much money Kimmswick raised through last weekend’s festival.
She said the festival typically brings in about $60,000 for the town, but she expects it to be less profitable this year because fewer vendor spaces were sold to allow visitors to space out more during the event.
“Booth rentals were down about 25 percent,” Schmitt said. “We decided to do less booths because of COVID. We made our aisles bigger by deleting booths from the City Hall lot and spreading them out a little bit on the streets. It was so things were not as crowded.”
Schmitt said the town sold all 600 jars of Kimmswick Strawberry Jam it ordered for the festival, which was less than the 840 jars ordered in 2020 when the festival was canceled.
“We were a little conservative because we didn’t know how it was going to go,” Schmitt said.
The festival
Schmitt said she was struck by how happy people seemed to be at the event.
“It was so good to see Kimmswick’s streets filled again with visitors,” Schmitt said. “People were smiling and waiting in line for a while for certain foods or strawberries, but everyone seemed to be OK with it.”
She said some visitors wore masks, and the city had free masks available for visitors at the information booth.
Schmitt also said the town had numerous hand-sanitizing stations throughout the festival and gave away hand sanitizer
“Everyone seemed to feel comfortable being at the festival,” Schmitt said.
A new attraction that drew a lot of attention was called the “Kid Klaw” – a human-sized version of the classic arcade claw-machine game.
For the game, a participant was strapped into a harness, which was lifted by a crane and then lowered into a pit filled with prizes, giving the person the chance to grab as many prizes as possible before being lifted away from the pit.
“It was so cute how they were doing it. I think everyone got a prize,” Schmitt said. “I didn’t know it would go off so well. It was really cool.”
Schmitt said the festival also attracted a unique visitor – Kim M. Swick from Tennessee, whose name has all the same letters as the historic river town.
“She is a sweet lady,” Schmitt said. “She reached out to us on Facebook and kept messaging us. She had a blast. That was cool for her.”
Schmitt said food vendors reported phenomenal sales during the festival, and Kimmswick businesses also had a lot of customers.
“Some vendors had to go back to their stores to get more food on Saturday and some had to do that on Sunday,” Schmitt said. “Most of our food vendors were close to being out of food by 4 p.m. on Sunday.”
The festival concluded at 5 p.m. each day.
Schmitt said some festivalgoers said they plan to return to Kimmswick.
“People said they want to come back when there is not a festival and it is not as crowded, so they can take time to walk around the town.”
Schmitt said Kimmswick Police Chief Steve Devore held a fundraiser during the festival to help support the family of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Zachary Faulkner who was wounded May 28 during a shootout at a Cedar Hill home.
She said $1,682.75 was collected for the family, along with $150 worth of food.
Schmitt said festival organizers forgot to announce winners for numerous raffles held during the event, and they will be announced on the Kimmswick Festivals and Events Facebook page this week.
Schmitt said the success of the Strawberry Festival gives city officials and festival organizers hope that the Apple Butter Festival also will be a success. That festival typically attracts more than 100,000 visitors to Kimmswick
“This was kind of a trial run since COVID,” Schmitt said of the Strawberry Festival. “We think the Apple Butter Festival will be bigger and better. We may still have some COVID things going on, but we will be as safe as we can be and do it from there.”