Residents flocked to Wamego this weekend for the return of Tulip Festival.
The annual festival draws in thousands to the city for two days filled with 120 vendors, live entertainment in the park and a beer, wine and cider tasting event. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jason Toll says they’re hoping this weekend prepares them for Wamego’s other large events.
“All of last year, canceling all the events, we were real hesitant on how to come back and thought if we did it right, this could be a breakthrough and looking forward to 4th of July and paving the way,” he said.
Organizers worked with the City of Wamego and the Pottawatomie County Health Department to establish one-way traffic through the arts and crafts tent, put in hand sanitizer stations and distributed free masks for event-goers. The health department also operated a vaccine clinic Saturday out of the Senior Center, distributing the two-dose Moderna shot. It was scheduled to resume that again on Sunday.
Toll says this event and others aren’t possible without a solid group of community volunteers.
“We have a great peer chamber group through the high school, 70 juniors and seniors as well as from the community business owners, we have about 40 adult volunteers and about the same amount of teens,” he said.
The Columbian Theatre also featured ‘Back to the 80s’ for the second of a three-weekend performance schedule, including a Sunday matinee. If you missed any of this weekend’s performances, tickets are available for the April 23-25 shows on the theatre’s website.
