by Patricia Measer
Ridgway, PA – The annual Mountain Fest in Ridgway is nearly upon us, scheduled for March 3 – 5. This festival showcases arts and crafts, food, beer, fine spirits, toys, and so much more, made by vendors from the Allegheny Mountains region and beyond! Now in its fifth year, the festival has grown beyond anything the original organizers could have imagined.
It started out as an idea for a one-time event, just to see if there was any interest. Julee Marzella, current president of the Elk County Wilds Tourism Association, presented the idea to the association as a way to promote tourism as well as local products. Tom “T.O.” Fitch, who was president at the time, thought it was a great idea and ran with it. The first festival was so popular that vendors and visitors alike kept asking when the next one would be held. So it became an annual tradition. Julee was made Vice President to help organize, and then she became President after T.O. passed in early 2021.
“At the first festival, we had maybe 40 vendors and a thousand visitors,” says Julee. “This year, we have over 100 vendors booked, and have a long waiting list of vendors who can join if another vendor has to cancel. We’re expecting over 6000 visitors that weekend.” All this in a town with a population of only about 4000!
Many of the same visitors come back every year, which Julee says makes it extra special. “It’s like a small-town reunion, with great food and music!” The expansion of Mountain Fest is important to supporting their goal of expanding tourism. Julee pointed out, “We want to make Ridgway a destination people think of when they are looking for things to do.”
Julee noted that the planning committee had to make a few changes to accommodate that growth. The first change was that they had to set up a temporary stop light to control traffic. Another change involved the venue. The festival moved to the Tannery building last year. This location is actually comprised of six buildings, five of which were occupied by Mountain Fest in 2022. This year, they are using all six buildings, giving them another 10,000 sq.ft. of space.
“It’s still not enough,” adds Julee. In addition to the increase in vendors, the committee also created a whole room just for kids, called Kids’ Corner. It includes an area for interactive story time, a coloring contest, a nerf gun range and a petting zoo. They also added a separate room dedicated to food vendors, and space for dancing or just to hang out and listen to the music.
Music will be playing all day every day, starting with a DJ Friday afternoon and transitioning to live music at 3pm. The music styles of the live acts run the gamut from pop to rock to county. There’s some acoustic, like Ian Unwired, and some electric music, like High River Valley Band (formerly Muzical Romance). The music committee ensured that some past favorites will be playing, while adding in some new acts for variety. You can see a list of the headliners on the event website (see below).
Some of the food vendors this year will have such varied products as flavored pickles, hickory syrup, homemade BBQ sauce, candied roasted nuts, flavored peanuts, freeze dried candy, specialty coffee, gourmet donuts, sushi, and of course, kettle corn. Non-food vendors include laser etching, nature photography, leatherworks, jewelry and beard care products. There are too many to mention. When asked where the committee found all these vendors, Julee explained that some came from advertising on Facebook, but most of them learned about the festival via word of mouth. And they are coming from other states now, not just the local area. This includes the bands. They had music acts from New Jersey and New York apply.
Julee said the committee is able to manage all of this only with the help of a lot of volunteers. They use volunteers to sell tickets and man the gates. High school students volunteer to clean up tables and pick up trash for community service credit. Members of the local fire department will be directing traffic and helping with parking.
The other key to managing this constantly growing event is to start planning the next year’s festival as soon as possible, per Julee. They are already working on plans for a new venue that they hope to make permanent. The association is hoping to partner with the Ridgway Borough to create a large event center, which can be used for any community events, not just Mountain Fest. They have identified a building that they think is perfect for this. It has over 40,000 sq.ft., a lot of acreage along the river and includes a campground and parking area. The building would need to be updated to better suit use as a public venue, so Julee is not sure whether it will be ready for next year or not. But it is definitely something to look forward to. There are plans to host events such as music festivals, auctions, car shows and movie nights.
The cost to attend Mountain Fest is only $5 per person. You receive a wristband that allows you access all weekend for one price. Proceeds from Mountain Fest go to support tourism, the Rails to Trails program, the Splash Pad at the YMCA for outdoor water play in warm months, and a scholarship fund in honor of T.O. Fitch. Some of the money raised will be used for the new event center.
The address for Mountain Fest is 310 Tanner Street, Ridgway, PA 15853
For more information, visit https://www.ElkCountyWilds.com/mountainfest2023 and the Elk County Wilds Tourism Association Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086481613708