Crowds flock to Street Fest, in spite of hot temperatures and stormy forecasts
SHEPHERDSTOWN — Saturday’s weather report was not looking promising, with temperatures in the 90s and thunderstorms called for later in the day. But that did nothing to deter crowds from flooding the streets of downtown Shepherdstown for Street Fest.
According to Street Fest organizer John Meeker, this heavy turnout had been anticipated, after observing the growth in festival attendance since he brought the 19-year-old festival back to life after the pandemic.
“Looks pretty good this year!” Meeker said. “The crowds feel bigger, definitely. They showed up earlier and seem to be sticking around!”
While the festival opened at 10 a.m., Meeker noted that crowds haven’t typically started forming at Street Fest until much later in the day.
“I couldn’t be happier. Everything’s coming along and all of the volunteers are doing great work,” Meeker said.
As to concerns over how the forecast might affect the festival, Meeker felt confident things would turn out well.
“It’s not going to rain!” he said. “We had a talk with the guy upstairs.”
Sellers at Street Fest’s booths seemed equally optimistic about how the day would progress.
“I love this town! It has such a beautiful community — it makes you feel like home,” said Meg Jaquay, of Nigeria, selling items handmade by Nigerian women. “My friend bought a house here and found this to be a friendly town, so she invited me to come to Street Fest. It’s now my third year and people, when they see me, say ‘Oh! Thanks for coming back!’ And you can’t find that everywhere.”
For Shepherdstown resident Evelyn Gettys, visiting Street Fest this year was a nice reminder of how she first came to Shepherdstown in 2015.
“The first time I found out about Shepherdstown, was when I saw a blurb about Street Fest in my local newspaper. I was living in Montgomery County in Maryland at the time,” Gettys said. “I came here and was really charmed about the place. CATF (Contemporary American Theater Festival) was another big draw to me about the town. So, when I retired I moved here!”
Although she has attended Street Fest for a number of years now, Gettys said the experience never grows old for her.
“When you’ve lived here for a while, there are some people who don’t come out here that often, but you get to see them at Street Fest!” Gettys said. “There’s a lot of vendors here that are very creative. Seeing their stuff and the imagination they have is wonderful.”