Venango Area Chamber of Commerce president Susan Williams said this year’s Oil Heritage Festival brought a large crowd to Oil City.
Following a very scaled back celebration last year due to the COVID-19 situation, this year’s festival was “almost 100% back”, Williams said.
She said three reasons for this year’s “exceptionally successful” festival were “the readiness of the community to return,” great weather and the Oil City 150 celebration.
A festival highlight was the Clarks concert in Justus Park, and Oil City manager Mark Schroyer said a great crowd turned out for the show.
Schroyer added the Clarks were “appreciative of the city’s hospitality.”
He estimated that about 2,000 to 3,000 people were at the show or milling around the downtown area that night (July 24), and the downtown businesses did very well.
Schroyer said the crowd may have been the largest since the mid-1980s during the early years of the festival.
“It was a good event for the city,” he said.
People were patient with the extra traffic that night and the police did a great job, Schroyer said.
Williams said volunteer firefighters from Reno and Rouseville directed the parking for the concert. A number of fire departments also had fire police at the festival helping to keep order.
Williams said she was happy with the number of crafters at the craft show and the food vendors. She added that even more participants would have been welcome.
The festival events put on by various community organizations went well, Ashley Sheffer, a program manager at the chamber, said. The art show had a large number of submissions and the Elks chicken barbecue sold out, Sheffer added.
“Last year they did 200 chickens and sold out, this year they did 400 chickens and sold out,” Sheffer said.
The Trails to Ales beer tent in Justus Park during the Friday and Saturday concerts was also a success, Williams said.
The Thursday events on the Central Avenue Plaza such as touch a truck, the farmers market, the FLEX ice cream social and the queen crowning were well attended, Williams said.
“For the setting, the bluegrass concert Thursday may have been the best attended,” Williams said.
Sheffer also noted that the pre-festival events such as the Bike and Brew went well.
The festival also brings many people to downtown businesses, giving the businesses exposure, Sheffer said.
“Our highest priority is to support the community,” Williams said.
One event that didn’t take place was the raft race, which was canceled due to the river levels. It has been rescheduled for Aug. 21 during Bridgefest.
No matter how prepared they are, each year the festival is a little different, Williams said.
She added the chamber gets requests to add events or bring back events that were held many years ago.
“We are very open to that. An event just needs a champion to get volunteers and funding to make it happen,” Williams said.
Sheffer added that she has received inquiries from several people asking about volunteering.
Williams also chalked up the festival’s success up to having an experienced team and great partners.
“We have, generally, an experienced team – employees and volunteers- that enabled us to execute this year’s festival very efficiently, especially going from last year to this year, we are back almost 100%,” Williams said.
She added that the only stressful part of the weekend was when it rained for a bit Saturday afternoon before the parade.
Another reason the festival went off without a hitch, Williams said, was having great partners in the Oil city arts community who ran the arts show, Youth Alternatives that provided children’s activities, and the city itself.
“While the city is always supportive, this year they had the personal connections to get the Clarks here. I’m not sure we could have done that,” Williams said.
“People want to do what other people are doing, the crowd builds momentum, hopefully we can keep it going into next year,” Williams said. “At the chamber we are committed to putting our best foot forward with next year’s festival, and our challenge to the community is to show up.”
