Plymouth Fall Festival is united fundraiser for community groups
A tradition of community service and giving will continue in the Plymouth community this year when local service clubs, civic and school groups, along with local non-profits join in a single weekend of fundraising Sept. 11, 12 and 13.
Fall Festival President Andrea Gerber noted that many people are unaware of the underlying historical purpose of the annual event. Every booth, every food truck, every amusement ride is a fundraiser for a local service club, student group or non-profit organization in the community, she stressed.
The festival began as a fundraiser for the Rotary Club who hosted a chicken barbeque in 1956 to buy some playground equipment for a local park.
Those first Rotary Club Chicken Barbeques, always dedicated to funding a local playground or civic project, evolved into the first official Fall Festival when 3,500or so folks attended the event and the Rotary club members served about 2,800 dinners. The event grew and evolved over the following years into the three-day weekend festival attended by an estimated 20,000 people last year.
One rule has remained in place during the decades-long growth and expansion of the event: to be a part of the Fall Festival, a booth, display or vendor must be sponsored by a local service or non-profit community group. No exceptions. Every vendor at the event is there to benefit the community by generating funds to be donated to a civic or school group. The wide-ranging success of those volunteer efforts can be seen throughout the community with local scholarships and multiple amenities and programs funded by civic groups.
Gerber is in her third year as president of the enormous undertaking that produces the expanded Plymouth Fall Festival. She explained that while the non-profits have their own teams managing their individual booths or events which “are now a well-oiled machine” the growth and constant expansion of the event does take real commitment. “It’s really a small group of people who know what they are doing,” she added.
The event is produced each year by JAG Entertainment, and company owner James Gietzen takes a hands-one approach to this special event. Gietzen, a member of the Plymouth Noon Rotary Club, is “a real blessing” Gerber said. “He does such a great job. We are so lucky to have him.” Gietzen helps schedule the stage performances and books bands and other entertainment during the event and, as Gerber says, “just does whatever is needed.”
While the entire event continues to expand each year, Gerber said she is particularly impressed with the success and popularity of the Friday night Bingo games which fund the area Little League program. “Bingo is so popular, people love it,” she said. “It just continues to grow.”
Gerber said she and Fall Festival Vice Chairman Pam Batcho have never lost site of the real purpose of the event. “We’re all here for the community,” she said. “With everything going on, all the booths and the entertainment, there really is something for everyone here.”
