Crafty Apple Festival 2020 Cancelled

From the Crafty Apple Festival Committee:

2020 has certainly been a challenging year to say the least. With so many public events up in the air or being canceled, the Chilton Chamber of Commerce has been cautiously optimistic about holding our 18th Annual Crafty Apple Fest on Sept. 12. For 17 years Crafty Apple Fest has provided much needed financial resources for many local non-profit organizations. It has provided extra store traffic and sales to many of our local businesses. And of course, we hope that it has provided our Vendor partners with a customer base to offer your products and services. While all these financial benefits are important, there is one more aspect of Crafty Apple Fest that is just as important. It has provided a Family Friendly Venue filled with entertainment and activities for all ages.

Our committee went into this year’s planning with a very positive can-do attitude. We have done our research, gathered information, reached out to other festivals, and entered into discussion with local authorities. As a whole, we felt that there are a large contingent people that are ready to move on and attempt to get back to a sense of normalcy. Frankly, in our eyes, people were simply looking for something to do! We felt we could offer them just that and still take steps to keep them safe. By the number of our Vendor partners registered, it is obvious that you are ready to go also.

With this being said, our planning discussions continued with the following feedback:

• Our Festival relies heavily on corporate and local business sponsorships. Many of these past sponsors have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 crisis and are simply trying to get back on stable ground. We were not comfortable asking for these sponsorships at this time.
• Our event recruits dozens of local volunteers to assist us with everything from bartenders, parking cars, and picking up garbage. Since there are so many people with differing opinions on what is safe and what is not, we were unsure we would be able to assemble a sufficient team. And we certainly don’t want to ask anyone to put themselves or their families at risk.
• Although we have had discussions with our local Government officials and have been given the green light to hold our event, we have also been told that if the local situation changes and the “numbers” change, they could shut us down with very little or no notice. With the current “shut down” climate, we were less than confidant with our chances.

Taking all of this into consideration, we have sadly and regretfully decided to cancel this year’s Crafty Apple Fest.

Planning will now begin for the 2021 Crafty Apple Fest to be held on Sept. 11, 2021. Our Committee has a true love for this event and take our leadership role in the Community very seriously. We still hold the mindset that “If we have it…They will come!” But with variables beyond our control, we felt it best not to put the health, both physical and financial, of our volunteers, vendors, businesses, and entire community at risk.

Past vendors were mailed an application for 2021. The application will be posted on our website for new vendors later this fall.

For questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the chamber at 418-1650, 9 am – 5 pm Monday through Friday, or email the Chamber Secretary.

We look forward to seeing you in 2021. Be well!