Festival 2011 - It’s A Wrap

I don’t remember a festival, at least in the last 33 years, where it rained all weekend. Despite the damp and drizzle, music played, the parade marched on, and families stashed yet another year of Festival memories in their minds.

Off Island attendance was down a bit. Many visitors thought the Festival would be canceled because of the rain. Little did they know about the tenacity of Islanders. It might have been just that, a few less people, or maybe even the rain, that made this Festival seem more like the Festivals of years past.

We promised you excitement, but didn’t plan the tree falling on the power lines Friday night and the ensuing two hour power outage. Thanks to an amazing response from PSE, we were back in business without incident. For those commuters trying to get home, we really didn’t close the road on Friday night for Festival!

Kudos go to our community for the outpouring of volunteers helping to make Festival a success. Since Strawberry Festival is the main fund raiser for the Chamber of Commerce, our Board of Directors were out in force; supporting music stages, manning the ticket gate at the Beer Garden, greeting Car Parade participants, taking orders at Wine & Jazz, even making sure there were sanicans and garbage dumpsters. But this year brought a refreshing change, and I hope a new trend. Nearly 75 other Vashonites jumped in to support our efforts. Vashon Golf and Swim Club sent in nearly a dozen folks to help man the Beer Garden and CHASE Bank was the team on board for Friday night. Members of Kiwanis and Rotary helped fill in the gaps. And there are others who slip in quietly, do their piece and slip away. Thanks to Loren Sinner, Troy Kindred, Daryl Green, Pascal Py, Gary Richards, Duke Davis, Jake Johnson, and the Boy Scouts of Troop #294. From setting stages to mowing fields, these guys are the invisible force behind the scenes.

As the drops settle and the carnival pulls away, we begin the work of debriefing. What went great? What can we do better next year? If you have an idea, we would love to hear it. Thanks Vashon for coming to our party. We hope you had a great time!

Debi Richards
Executive Director
Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce