Over the course of the last week, I have had numerous people ask me about the Harvest/ Heritage Festival that the library hosted Sunday, Sept. 22, and whether or not we were rained out.
In short, the answer is yes - we had rain, lots of glorious, drenching rain which eventually forced us to pack up and call it a day.
However, the weather did stay at bay long enough for us to enjoy a bit of the festivities, and we were pleased that a few folks braved the weather to participate.
The biggest reason the event was so successful was because of the dedication and support of our vendors, demonstrators, musicians, volunteers and staff who were all committed to making the day great, despite the weather.
Although the wind and rain forced many of the demonstrators to pack up early, I wanted to extend my gratitude for the concerted effort despite the weather forecast - thank you! I'd also like to extend thanks to the musicians who continued to perform (with the exception of occasional breaks for lightning) throughout: The Lindells, Roscoe, Lynne Lewis and Carolyn Smith; and to Chris Lindell for braving the storm with his sound equipment! To round out the entertainment, thank you to Carla Roberts & The Wild West Squares for donating their time to come out and dancing for us in the rain.
A big recognition and thank you is also due to our produce and food vendors - for bringing their wonderful produce, meat, and other fruits of the harvest and for enduring the weather as long as they did. This hardy group of folks stayed until the bitter end, packing up their pickups (and pizza oven!) in the downpour that signaled the end of our inaugural event - thank you!
I'd be remiss not to mention the hard work of our volunteers and staff. For all the work leading up to the event and during - even though the weather report called for a 90 percent chance of heavy rain, you were all still there with smiles and positive words to ensure the event turned out great, thank you for your dedication.
A special thank you goes out to Glen Graves & LookLook Design for donating valuable time to create our beautiful poster and ads.
Finally, a thank you for our local business sponsors: Mancos Valley Bank, Grand Avenue Cafe, Goodnight Trail Gallery and Raven House Gallery all gave generously to support the event. When all was said and done we ended up with an extra $300 to support the library - not bad for an event that was rained out! We look forward to hosting the festival again next year, hopefully we can get Mother Nature to cooperate!
Lee Hallberg is executive director of the Mancos Public Library. Reach her at 533-7600.