06/15/2026
The Three Rivers Art Festival was rough this year. We had storms on Thursday that damaged many artists (At least half that were set on the bridge, a couple tents even went over the bridge.) and kept guests away.
Sunday the storms shut us down. Some vendors had to pack up and leave in the morning before we opened. We all had to hold for dear life and/or evacuate in the afternoon as 30 mph gusts and heavy rain came through with tornado warnings. The staff and management made good calls and kept us well informed under the circumstances. We lost all of Sunday evening of our final day.
(If you say the "it always rains for the Arts Festival" dumb s**t I am deleting your comment and maybe you. I've been participating in the event for 8 years and have had maybe 4 rain days of significance, none that shut us down.)
I am thankful to our management for making difficult decisions and keeping us updated. Minimizing impact on us and guests. I appreciate my neighboring artists where we all piled on as much support as we could. I am immensely grateful for my partner, Jeremy for helping me secure the tent, prints, and haul the original art out in time to be safe before hell broke loose...(also keeping me from wigging out while abandoning my livelihood in a tent during a storm.)
Overall, the current economy is impacting many of us in this field terribly, and the weather is fueling the fire of failure. (I've seen a handful of weather torn art festivals over the last month throughout the country. Omaha got hit bad this past week for one.) Keep considering small business when you can. *high five*
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