Riverport Festival makes a come back: But bad weather causes problems
by Mark Jahne
Editor
Bad weather forced a change in plans but the volunteers who worked for two years to revive the dormant Cromwell Riverport Festival are looking at the positive rather than the negative. They bought the event back to life.
What was supposed to be a three-day celebration was trimmed to two because of threatening weather. Saturday, Sept. 26, which was planned to be the longest day with the most activities, had to be completely cancelled because of heavy rain and wind.
A 5K road race that was scheduled for that same morning was postponed until Oct. 24. As this issue went to press, more than 80 percent of the people who registered for this race were still expected participate along with a few new entrants.
The people who showed up on Thursday and Friday evenings enjoyed food, music, carnival rides, vendors, a giant screen movie and more. The hope is that this will build momentum to present another Riverport Festival next year.
The planning committee even fixed up the old town stage that had fallen into disrepair. Chairperson Steve Wygonowski was thrilled to show it off.
“Volunteers made that stage look like that,” he said.
One of the challenges to bring this event back to life was to raise enough money. They succeeded at that. Another challenge was to recruit enough volunteers to staff the festival. They succeeded at that, too.
“We got 150 volunteers. The middle school built a putting challenge,” he said.
State Rep. Christie Carpino was among those volunteers.
“I was here when the Riverport Festival ended … it was a huge loss to the community. I didn’t think I would ever see it again. This is a testament to how resilient we are,” she said.
Mayor James Demetriades, while expressing disappointment that Saturday was a washout, was still delighted to see something he enjoyed attending as a child come back to life.
“It’s like a warm hug. It feels like home. Growing up, the Riverport Festival was one of the highlights of the year for a Cromwell kid,” he said. “The volunteers and organizers did such an excellent job. They should be proud of themselves.”
Town Historian Richard Franklin Donohue was also thrilled. The planning committee utilized this event to help the town celebrate its 175th anniversary as a distinct municipality. Prior to that it was a part of the city of Middletown known as the Upper Houses.
“The Cromwell Riverport Festival is a celebration of the people of Cromwell,” Donohue said.
“The festival committee did a great job planning and then reacting to the challenging conditions related to the Nor’easter. We also appreciated the support of our volunteers, food trucks, vendors and performers to change schedules as needed and to bring two great festival days to Cromwell,” Wygonowski said.
“Feedback we have received has been positive. At the festival, you could see the fun people were having. The food trucks lines were long although the food was being turned out quickly. The beer garden and trivia were a hit. The stage and the music performance was fantastic. Just overall a great time for many,” he added.
“Of course, we appreciated the support from the town staff, fire district staff and key technical providers Light House Electric and Harvest Audio.” CL