Harvest festival back on track after delays
Despite delays earlier in the year, officials are in the final stages of preparing for the 35th edition of Katy’s Rice Harvest Festival, an annual event themed to the city’s agricultural history that draws thousands to the city’s downtown.
Set for Oct. 10-11, the festival will feature an array of entertainment, food galore and about 320 vendors selling a variety of items such as jewelry, crafts and toys.
A kick-off parade is scheduled for Oct. 3. Visit http:// www.riceharvestfestival.org/ for details.
Per tradition, the festival will be hosted in the heart of the city, where construction for the new city hall will cause slight adjustments to this year’s event but where, as always, family fun and a safe environment are promised.
“This event takes a lot of hard work but it brings our community together,” said Bob Hodges, chairman of the festival for the last decade. “It’s been more difficult this year, but everything is going good now, and (the festival) will give people the chance to shop, relax and spend time together like it always has.”
Planning for the event began in February, but soon afterward, Hodge’s wife and co-chairman of the event, Ann Hodge, had to deal with a medical issue, causing delays for her and her husband.
The delays resulted in backups with planning and the cancellation of the popular photography contest, though all other attractions are on schedule.
Ann Hodge is also president/CEO of the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce, which
organizes the event.
Musical entertainment including singers Jason Cassidy and Neil Russell will fill the stage, and local teenage bands will also perform. A children’s carnival is planned, but a carnival with larger rides will be absent for the second straight year because of space constraints.
Vendors interested in claiming a booth have until Friday to register, with booth prices ranging from $125 for handmade crafts vendors to $525 for food vendors.
More than 30,000 visitors are expected, with proceeds, targeted at $18,000, going to Katy’s nine high schools, which will all have representatives volunteering at the event. The money is used for each high school’s senior Project Graduation, or for prom.
Adults will be charged $8 for admission, while entry is free for children under age 10, senior adults and members of the military, law enforcement, fire department and emergency medical services.
“For us and everyone else, it’s about giving back to the community. We like to be seen in the community and serve,” said Leo Rice, a member of Katy’s Knights of Columbus branch, a Catholic fraternal organization. The knights have had a booth at the festival for 30 years and will be the sole seller of alcoholic beverages.
“We watch out for everything vigorously and make sure everything goes smooth,” Rice said. “We’ve never had a problem or had a violation with the (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) and check every customer.”
To safeguard against under-age drinking, festival officials use a system of wristbands and ID checking, saying the worst safety issues have been escorting out older civilians for being too intoxicated and causing disturbances.
At a planning meeting, Ann Hodge also became adamant about keeping a tight focus on security.
At the most, the festival will have 12 police officers walking around and at least three at any given time, with an Emergency Medical Services squad-on-site most of the time, according to Bob Hodge. The city also has a fence built around its city hall construction site for safety, which officials say they watch closely.
“The police there will use their protocol that they have to follow to ensure safety, and they’ll do their duty to make sure the event is safe as they always have,” said Byron Hebert, city administrator. “We’ve also planned construction around the festival and tried to take it under consideration regarding safety and not affecting where booths can be placed.”
The largest effect of the construction could happen in the shuttle route, which will pick up patrons at Katy Mills Mall and drop them off on First Street, though the route could be altered slightly if construction on that street continues eastward by the time of the festival. The construction will also cause some space adjustment for multiple booths.
In recent years, inclement weather has hampered the festival, but Bob Hodge is hopeful that won’t happen again so that the festival can regain its 40,00050,000 peak attendance.
Despite the adjustments this year, Katy residents will still be able to experience what many have come to expect as one of the suburb’s premier attractions.
“It’s a home feeling,” said 31-year old Ramsey Sass, a Katy resident who has volunteered at the festival since he was 15. Ramsey asked his wife to marry him years ago at the festival.
“It’s grown a lot, and for us, it’s history, because even though rice isn’t necessarily incorporated, Katy used to be all rice harvest, and its kind of a link from the past to the future, because you can tell kids what its historical significance is when they go to it. Small town festivals like this are a need here.”