The Best Small Town Festival in Arizona happened in Patagonia on the second weekend in October. This was the 25th year for the Patagonia Fall Festival, and according to everyone who worked there, sold there, or just came to hang out, it was a terrific event. Kazz Workizer, as she has in the past, managed to put all the pieces of this three-day event together.
There were 125 exhibitors selling everything from dog biscuits to garlic, sticks to stones, turquoise to T shirts. A truck drove over from Hatch, New Mexico with a trailer full of bright red chile peppers, craftspeople came from all over Arizona, and local nonprofits profited from selling books and beer.
Volunteers from Patagonia High School helped move the endless boxes of books from the library to the park. Almost as soon as the books were stacked on tables, buyers appeared. At the end of the weekend the Friends of the Library were $2,300 ahead.
KPUP set up its Beer Garden facing the gazebo and, after covering expenses, the local station took in $3,200, a little less than last year.
Local potter Martha Kelly was delighted with her weekend sales. She attributes some of that to the fact that there were only seven potters in the park this year as opposed to some years when there are “too many.”
As always, there was food for every taste—from vegetarian offerings to fried dough. Patagonia’s Volunteer Fire Dept. sold hundreds of hamburgers.
The music was a vital part of the festival energy. Some people thought that the unexpected death of the popular and talented duo, Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl—who were scheduled to perform—cast a shadow over the event, but the sound system helped fill the air with an amazing variety of tunes from a Dixieland band to the sweet voice and guitar of Conjuntos Royal.
The weekend is always a boon to the local economy. The weather is reliably lovely, the visitors always show up and leave to tell their friends back home not to miss this great little festival next year, and so it goes. See you in the park, 2014.
