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Date: 2/16/2023
LONGMEADOW – In October 2022, two years after the Historical Society ended the traditional Long Meddowe Days festival, local organizers brought festivities back to the Town Green with the first Long Meddowe Fall Festival.
“The response of the town was fantastic,” said organizer Laurie Hatch said. Her husband, Bill Hatch, said that since they began organizing the festival, they have “met a lot of movers and shakers” in town and people often thank him for bringing a festival back to Longmeadow.
Laurie estimated that between 2,000 and 2,500 people attended on one or both days. Food and craft vendors were sold out by the end of the weekend. Two days is “just long enough” for people to enjoy the booths, events, entertainment and activities, Godfrey said.
This year, the festival is slated to return, bigger and better. While last year’s turnout was “great,” Laurie said, she added, “We really lucked out on the weather.” This year, the festival will take place on Sept. 9 and 10, making it more likely the weather will be warm.
Looking back at the first festival, Laurie and American Legion Post 175 Commander Earl Godfrey agreed that there was not much they would change. “It’s more, ‘What can we add to it?’” Godfrey said. “We had 24 community booths, that’s something we’d like to add [more of],” Laurie said.
Godfrey said partnering with the Richard Salter Storrs Library for its annual book sale was a major success and he was shocked at how many books were sold at the Community House, where the sale was staged.
The classic car show was also a hit, with nearly 50 cars on display, Godfrey said.
This year, Batch Ice Cream will have their ice cream truck at the event and there will also be kettle corn vendors. The organizers plan to have Fletcher’s BBQ Shop & Steakhouse and One Way Brewing back to sell barbecue and beer, respectively, in a corner of the Town Green. “It was like a beer and food garden,” Laurie said of the way the businesses were set up last year. She added that, despite concerns from the Select Board regarding the opportunity for underage drinking, no problems occurred.
Godfrey described the festival as “an opportunity for businesses to promote themselves.” There will be a limited number of booths set aside for local businesses. The festival organizers will receive a booth fee and the business can sell its products and promote itself.
The festival even spawned new partnerships. Wolf Swamp Road School’s Cub Scout Troop 295 asked American Legion Post 175 to be its chartered sponsor after the campfire at the festival last year. This year the troop’s 35 scouts plan to have a jamboree and campfire on the Green during one of the two festival evenings.
Last year, there were three veterans’ groups that handed out information – Disabled American Veterans, Amvets and the Longmeadow Veterans’ Council. Laurie and Godfrey recalled that Jay Contrino, a 92-year-old veteran, played banjo and entertained the crowd.
The organizers plan to offer free activities and events for children and teens again this year. “That’s part of what you do for the community,” Godfrey said. He explained that the main drive behind the festival is to leave a “long term legacy of community and service,” Godfrey said.
The Long Meddowe Fall Festival is seeking volunteers and sponsors right now. The festival cost about $14,000 in sponsorships and in-kind donations in 2022, and the organizers expect it to cost at least that much this year.
Godfrey said the volunteers’ time and effort are of immeasurable value to the event. Godfrey estimated that about 27 volunteers are needed for “back office” administrative work. He said they need volunteers who can “commit, contact and follow up with people” and devote their hours to the festival. Hands-on help will also be needed on the days of the festival.
“The satisfaction in the end is when you see families smiling” and enjoying themselves, Godfrey said.