Board Letter on Salmon Falls Street Fest

Hello Everyone,

The Salmon Falls Street Fest – what we hope to be an annual event - was held on September 26, 2009 on Deerfield Avenue. The weather was absolutely perfect and the carnival atmosphere kept spirits high and smiles broad. 30 plus vendors participated including local restaurants and businesses as well as crafters, artists, community non-profits and massage therapists. There was even a gyro ride for the adventurous!

The estimated attendance for this event was 800+ traveling for Boston, Pittsfield, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York and locally from Springfield, Northampton and the surrounding hills. For some, The Salmon Falls Street Fest was their destination. For others, it was a “happened upon” treat on a cool autumn day.

The initial thrust of the SFABA to host this event was to draw more visitors to town during a time that is between the busier summer season and full foliage. A background reason was to offer a day of fun at no cost to the community that supports the local businesses that comprise Shelburne Falls – Buckland’s and Shelburne’s downtowns – as a “thank you” for keeping us all in business.  The SFABA has been discussing a fall event for 6 years, but unable to find necessary commitments until this year.  The response from those attending was overwhelmingly positive; some even wrote letters to express their thoughts and thanks.

We are conducting a survey to gather your feedback about this and all our special events to ensure we are responsive to your business needs. Click here to take the survey.

The SFABA wants to extend an open invitation to participate in the organizing of The 2nd Annual Salmon Falls Street Fest”. We need your assistance to make this event the best it can be and for those of you that requested more notice, this letter serves as our first official notification for the 2010 festival that will take place in late September. This year, 6 volunteers organized the event. Six local business owners with the same constraints we all face.  There were terrific ideas and aspects to this event we would have liked to have included but did not have the time/resources to accomplish. The organizers contributions during the day of the event began at 6:45 am and finished at 10.15 pm. This was above and beyond the 40+ hours of meetings and information gathering contributed prior to September 26th.

The one obstacle that arises with all of the SFABA events is the lack of volunteers to actually do the physical execution of the planning. There were many more “good ideas” that even this year’s committee had to let fall to the wayside because we physically could not get everything accomplished.  

Your ideas are more than welcome. We are appreciative that you are showing interest in this event and your community. Please join the committee for next year’s Salmon Falls Street Fest and help us accomplish all of the things you would have liked to see happen this year. Ideas and suggestions are not all that is needed. We need a group to commit to actual work, planning hours, physical set-up and break-down hours; and many hours of organizing, internet retrieval, sponsorship donations, and promotion – hanging posters, organizing radio and newspaper ads and designing programs and flyers.

Starting sooner - a year in advance – was a great suggestion. Please contact Mary Vilbon at the SFABA office to sign up for the committee for the 2nd Annual Salmon Falls Street Fest. If you have volunteer time to contribute to any of the other event the SFABA organizes we would also graciously accept your efforts. We appreciate your interest and look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,
SFABA Board of Directors                                                   

Below is a list of annual events the SFABA is seeking volunteers for:
    Moonlight Magic: November 27, 2009
    14th Annual Auction: April 2010
    Golf Outing: June 18, 2010
    32nd Annual BOF Road Race: August 6, 2010
    10th Annual Iron Bridge Dinner: August 13, 2010
    2nd Annual Salmon Falls Street Fest: September 2010