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Children catch candy during last year's Catfish Festival.
By Al Krombach
Special to the Daily News
CRESCENT CITY – Residents of this town learned Thursday the threat of a virus will interrupt the 41-year run of the city’s Catfish Festival.
At the city commission meeting where he was expected to ask the for city’s formal permission to host the annual event, Rotary Club of Crescent City President Gerald Watson instead announced that the 2020 edition is canceled. Many in the audience expressed shock at the news.
The festival has historically drawn thousands to the small South Putnam town on every first Saturday in April for its Florida-themed food offerings, art show, parade and musical entertainment.
“For reasons of health and safety, we thought it would be best to not have it this year,” Watson said.
He noted that earlier that afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis urged people to postpone large gatherings, helping push festival planners to make the decision.
The festival is the Rotary Club’s primary fundraising project, with the largest portion of its earnings going toward college and tech school scholarships for graduating high school seniors. Over its history, the festival has raised more than $1 million toward that end, Watson noted.
Watson assured the city the club wouldn’t abandon its commitments.
“We will still commit to our scholarships,” he said. “We have in our treasury sufficient reserves to handle it.”
The club annually funds 15 scholarships of $1,500 each.
Watson said the club will refund fees already collected, including 5K race, parade, and arts show registrations. Also facing the club is the task of notifying dozens of exhibitors and suppliers, along with some 200 community volunteers who help the club cook, serve, entertain, set up, take down and otherwise contribute to the event.
Kelvin Haire has chaired the festival for more than 16 years. He said planning was well under way for this year before the threat of coronavirus caused widening cancellation of public events.
“Fortunately, we haven’t begun to receive most of the food and supplies we normally purchase, and our suppliers have been very understanding,” he said.
He said the festival planning committee will meet soon to review the situation and begin to get things in line for succeeding years.
After being heavily involved in the weeks of run-up to Catfish Festivals since joining Rotary in the 1990s, Haire will find himself suddenly at loose ends on this first Saturday in April.
“Every year, I said to myself I could be fishin’,” he said, smiling. “This year, I’m just going to go out and sit in my boat.”
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In other business at the Thursday meeting, Crescent City commissioners renewed a lease with Putnam County for the building housing the south county government offices, and they heard a presentation on Opportunity Zones from Putnam County Chamber of Commerce’s Benjie Bates.