Although the weather was brutal, festival-goers gathered in Manhattan City Park this weekend for the second Little Apple Renaissance Festival, although the festival closed earlier than scheduled on both Saturday and Sunday due to inclement weather.
Dylan Evans, festival director and sophomore in chemical engineering, worked with a team of six people over the last six months to coordinate the event. In the beginning of the planning process, Evans said they had a difficult time due to a lack of funds and trouble getting a location for the event.Related:
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After winter break, the Manhattan Convention & Visitors Bureau stepped in to help, allowing the committee to get the planning process off the ground.
“We were in a cycle at first because we can’t get money if we don’t have money,” Evans said. “And then the office of tourism came and offered to pay the deposit for the park, and that got us out of the loop.”
After the committee received help, they were then able to send out vendor forms, which helped pay for the majority of the event.
The festival had originally planned for 18 vendors and three food trucks to support the event, but the battle with the cold weather kept some at home. However, a handful of vendors were able to stick around, one of them being the local game shop, Goblin Games.
Christopher Hutchinson, full-time employee at Goblin Games, worked the booth on Sunday afternoon. He said he hoped for more people to show up, but he knew the cold weather put a damper on the event.
“If the festival is in the spring, we will probably do this every year,” Hutchinson said.
Courtney Keith, graduate student in student life, said she enjoyed spending her Sunday afternoon at the event to support the different passions of local people.
“Unfortunately, the weather just obliterated this year’s celebration,” Keith said. “I just hope that people won’t be dissuaded from coming out next year.”
