As you now know, the Friends of Two Rivers Snowfest have made the decision to change the date of Snowfest to August 15th and 16th, 2020 instead of our original dates in July. The question many would ask is why change the date? Or why host an event this year? Hopefully we can provide a little insight into why the decision was made.  

Like so many things in the world these last few months the planning of Snowfest 2020 has been at a standstill as we struggled with the COVID 19 pandemic that faced the world. Work was still occurring to move the (snow)ball forward but at the same time much was still unknown about if we could host the event and what would it look like. These were challenges that many groups faced and simply decided the unknown was just too much to risk and they chose to cancel their events.

As events cancelled seemingly right and left over the spring, the pandemic continued on and our group continued to work on the event in spite of this uncertainty. Well, like so many events and life in general things changed for us when the Safer at Home order ended in the state. While this provided a bit more certainty that the event might occur, it further led to concerns on if the event could be done safely in the time that we had left to plan it.

Our group met and weighed all of the options in front of us and we made the decision this week that we could make Snowfest 2020 happen this year, but it needs to a look a little different. First off, as we noted the date needed to change. In the history of Snowfest it has been an event in June, around the 4th of July, at the end of July but never an August event. So it’s a truly first of its kind event. The date change provides us more time to make the changes to our procedures to insure that we are complying with CDC and WEDC guidelines and recommendations for our event.  We will continue to work with these partners as we move forward.

Second, we have made the decision to not have a parade this year in the interest of public safety. With schools being closed and bands not able to practice we felt that it would not be fair to the spirit of the Snowfest parade to continue planning it for this year. All of the groups that we have talked to about marching this year have said that they are even more excited to march in the parade for Snowfest 2021.

The event will be a little smaller. Rather than a three day event with two stages of music it will be a two day event with one stage of music. So instead of 16 bands performing, there will be at least 9. However we will still present a great blend of original music artists and some of the local favorite groups many people have come to know and love. We look forward to releasing the revised line up soon.

We realize the challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic also have made it harder for some to safely leave the home to enjoy events like this. We are working with some of our media partners to actually be able to bring all of the fun of Snowfest to you in the comfort of your own home along with other surprises. More to come on this as well.

We will soon be announcing events as part of Snowfest where you can get out, get active and be able to spend time with your family in a safe, family friendly way. We will be announcing more on these cool new parts of the event as well.

In the history of Snowfest it has seen wars, illness, and now another worldwide pandemic but in any case it has survived through it. We are excited to present Snowfest 2020 to you this year and we hope you can all attend!

An event like this doesn’t help without a lot of great support through the community it has been the support of our family, friends, and residents of the city that have gotten us to this point. We no doubt will continue to count on this support as we get closer toward the event happen.

We are excited to be able to bring you this event in 2020 in spite of the challenges that we have faced. We are excited to work with the City of Two Rivers, Two Rivers Main Street, Two Rivers Parks and Recreation and several other organizations to be able to bring a first and only of its kind Two Rivers experience.  With Sundae Thursday, the car cruise, the car show celebrating its 20th anniversary and Snowfest returning after a 21 year hiatus what could be more Two Rivers than the whole experience together and we hope you can come out and attend!

Stay safe and be well,

Tony