Groups return to Fall Festival for first time since pandemic

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The West Side Nut Club Fall Festival welcomes over 100 booths to the Tri-State every year.

A few food booths haven’t participated in the Fall Festival since 2019 due to COVID-19 concerns. Melenie Persinger is a coordinator and volunteer for the Special Olympics of Vanderburgh County food both. She says it’s their first year back to the fall festival since the pandemic.

“It was a bummer, you know, we haven’t done this in two years like, all of us are kinda like, ‘How did we do this last time?’ It stinks because you put a lot of effort into it.” said Persinger. “You know, we want to be successful and we want to put out a good product.”

Persinger says they’ve kept their menu the same in hopes of attracting customers from years past. She says the festival is a major fundraising tool for their organization.

“We rely on donations, and things like this help our athletes go to sports programs, and buy uniforms, and pay entry fees so yeah, we just make more and more and more every year,” said Persinger.

St. Wendel Church is another food booth that got a chance to return to the fall festival this year after opting out of participating due to the pandemic.

“We weren’t here for two years,” said St. Wendel Church Booth 88 volunteer Elise Koester. “It’s not our main fundraiser, but it sure helps any money will help.”

She says the volunteers would be in close proximity inside of their food booth, and church leadership didn’t want to risk anyone becoming exposed or contracting coronavirus.

Koester says since they’ve returned to the Fall Festival, they’ve had a lot of foot traffic.

“We’re just thankful when somebody comes up to our booth and that we have something that they want,” said Koester.

It’s not too late to stop by the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival. Pickle-themed foods can be found at the Special Olympics of Vanderburgh County booth 81. Sweet treats like bread pudding can be found at St. Wendel Church food booth 88.

Click here to access the 2022 Fall Festival Munchie Map.

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