Duluth Fall Festival Organizing for 2012 Event

Veteran Duluth Fall Festival volunteers and newcomers gathered Thursday (Feb. 23) night to organize for the 30^th anniversary festival.

The 2012 Duluth Fall Festival Chairman Kathryn Willis told the group convened at the Duluth Festival Center: “We’re going to pull out all the stops this year.” Jim Adkins will serve as her co-chairman. Willis then announced the names of the chairs and co-chairs of the nearly 50 committees who put on the festival each year. About 400 volunteers are involved in the festival, which brings an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 visitors to Duluth.

 A festival founder, Willis co-chaired the 2011 festival, chaired it in 1987 and 1992 and served as co-chairman in 2003.

Willis and several key committee chairs just returned from a conference on festivals in Tennessee and were full of ideas including a zip line that would allow festival attendees to “fly” over the tops of the tents on the .

Dates for the 2012 festival, always held the last weekend in September, are Sept. 29-30. The carnival is returning and will open on Wednesday and continue through Sunday. The festival also features 400 arts and crafts, food and vendor booths; live entertainment, a parade, a silent auction, 5K road race, and children’s activities

Pre-festival activities include a summer picnic, a free community concert, a “Taste of Duluth,” and a community luncheon. Committee members get together two Thursdays a month for a "dutch treat" dinner at a local restaurant then for a festival meeting.

Committee chairmen presented brief reports on plans for this year’s festival. Silent Auction chairmen Janet and Sheldon Greenwald asked festival volunteers to search their households for knicks knacks, handyman gadgets and spa items that can be incorporated into gift baskets for the auction, which last year raised almost $10,000.

The 2011 festival generated more than $200,000 in funds and in-kind services. Festival proceeds are used for downtown improvements.

Anyone else who would like to volunteer, may call the festival Hotline at 1-855-Duluth1 or visit the festival website.