Evansville’s Annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival Cancelled For 2020
The coronavirus has claimed another beloved event in the Tri-state. The West Side Nut Club has just announced that the 99th Annual Fall Festival will not be taking place this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, James Raben, West Side Nut Club President, said,
Safety and security for our members, participants and festival goers is paramount. After long consideration and discussion amongst the board, Ed Dietz (2020 Festival Chairman) and I have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 WSNC Fall Festival.
This conclusion was made after thorough deliberation with state and local Covid-19 authorities, EMA, Vanderburgh Health Department, the Mayor’s Office and teams from both local hospitals. We decided that unless we could get the ‘okay’ from each of these authoritative organizations it would not be in the Clubs best interest to move forward against their advice.
We will continue with the Half Pot which should allow us to continue to provide a level of financial support to our community and non-profits. There will be more details to come on when and where the ticket sales will take place.
This was an extremely difficult decision for the Board of Directors, one I hope a future board never has to make again. And I understand not everyone may agree with it but, I hope everyone can understand the reasoning behind why we made this decision.
I want to thank all members, especially the Festival Chairmen and their committees, for the time and effort you have put forth in the yearlong preparation of this Festival. I also want to thank the board for their help and input through all the many discussions we’ve had on the Festival.
We will continue and look forward to an even better Festival in 2021 celebrating our 100th anniversary!
This is an event that has been a part of the Evansville way of life for nearly 100 years. Taking place on Franklin Street, each year hundreds of non-profits lined the street selling specialty foods and sweet treats - some that you could only get during Fall Festival. 2020 would have been the 99th year for the Fall Festival and it will surely be missed.