The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Fall Festival slated to return after absence
For the second time in four years, the Perry Fall Festival is slated to return after a one-year absence.
The festival’s steering committee will hold a kickoff meeting on March 11 to begin the work that’s needed to plan this year’s community celebration, which is sponsored by the Perry Area Joint Recreation District.
That meeting will take place at 4 p.m., March 11, prior to the 5 p.m. Recreation District board meeting at the Perry Township Administration Building. The committee was created by and serves under the direction of the rec board.
Providing that the novel coronavirus pandemic doesn’t prevent holding public gatherings involving large groups of people, the 2021 Perry Fall Festival is scheduled to take place on Sept. 11.
Phil Cassella, a member of the steering committee, predicted that planning for this year’s festival would go smoothly. He said the panel basically will be following the same plan that was initiated for the 2020 Fall Festival, before the event was canceled in July because of health and safety risks posed by COVID-19.
“We haven’t really changed anything,” Cassella said, regarding the festival format. “It’ll be going back to trying to verify vendors and things of that nature and entertainment and all that kind of stuff. We think we’re in pretty good shape.”
The eight-member steering committee is composed of two members each from Perry Village, North Perry Village, Perry Township and Perry Schools — which are entities served by the Perry Area Joint Recreation District.
Perry Village is represented on the panel by Cassella and Elias Coss. Both men also serve on the community’s Village Council.
During council’s Jan. 14 meeting, Cassella delivered a report on the steering committee’s intentions to begin working on 2021 festival plans.
Council also agreed in principle to earmark $500 of a $1,000 NOPEC Community Events Sponsorship Grant to help pay for fireworks at this year’s Fall Festival. However, Village Council still will need to pass a formal resolution by June 30 to receive the grant in 2021.
The festival is a one-day event with a schedule that includes children’s activities, such as face painting, inflatables, pony rides and a magic show; vendors and food concessions; a Chinese auction; and musical entertainment. Festivities take place at Lee Lydic Park on Call Road in Perry Village.
Spectator admission to the Perry Fall Festival is free of charge. All money raised through the various festival activities will benefit the Perry Area Joint Recreation District’s youth and senior community programs.
In 2018, the Perry Fall Festival also was canceled because its timing coincided with a change in leadership within the rec district.
With a new director and assistant director beginning duties during the summer of 2018, the Recreation District Board decided at that point to create a steering committee to consider fresh ideas for the Fall Festival when it returned in 2019.