Liz and Raif Zacca of Vancouver get condiments for their sausages at the Vancouver Sausage Fest on Sunday. The two attend St. Joseph Catholic Church.Photo Gallery
The sausages sizzled, the carnival rides whirled and local acts performed for the last time at Vancouver Sausage Fest on Sunday.
For many families in attendance, the memories they made Sunday afternoon were bittersweet. The annual festival, an entertainment staple for many in Clark County since its debut in 1972, won’t be back, organizers announced earlier this year. Proceeds from the event benefit St. Joseph Catholic School.
“I’m sad,” said Patty Davis of Vancouver. She first came to Sausage Fest when “my daughter was probably 6 or 7, and (now) she’s almost 37.”
Davis was reliving the festival with her son-in-law, his father and her two granddaughters on Sunday. She said she was disappointed that her granddaughters, ages 3 and 8, won’t be able to come to the festival anymore.
“It’s probably a family tradition for most families,” Davis said.
That certainly was the case for Amy Steigman, who started attending the festival in 1999 with her three children, until they grew up. Now, they’re all in their 20s.
“My kids used to fight to come” to the festival, Steigman said. “I’m really sad to see it go.”
Perhaps it was that nostalgia that drew a big crowd to the final festival.
By about 2 p.m., the festival had sold out of 2014 Sausage Fest T-shirts and beer steins, said event organizer Courtney Givens. Festival volunteers instead were selling collectable steins from the fest’s previous years. On Saturday, the festival’s beer garden was so popular that servers ran out of five of the eight beers available, Givens said.
In addition to sausage, crowds on Sunday waited in line for burgers, ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, ice cream, potatoes and elephant ears. They sat down at shaded picnic tables and watched a child dance group perform on stage.
Later on the stage, kids competed in a hula-hooping contest. They twirled the hoops around their waists as the song “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” played over loudspeakers.
Givens said the festival is “going out with a bang,” adding that organizers were on track this year to raise the most money they’ve ever raised. The festival also drew more people than it has in the past couple of years, though an estimate of the size of the crowd wasn’t immediately available, Givens said.
Some guests said they still hope the 43rd Sausage Fest wasn’t truly the last.
“Hopefully they can find a way to bring it back,” said Terry Simmons. He snacked on a ketchup-slathered sausage as his daughter, Taryn Simmons, 6 and sporting a pink tutu, sat on his lap.
But the festival simply wasn’t making enough money to support St. Joseph Catholic School, the school’s principal, Lesley Harrison, said. The money raised by Sausage Fest needs to cover operating costs and keep tuition low at the school, and the festival’s popularity has waned in recent years, she said.
“I have mixed feelings, and I think that’s to be expected,” Harrison said of the final fest. “I’m going to miss seeing all the people. It’s a great time to reconnect. … I see old students, old parents.”
Leaders at St. Joseph are still deciding what type of fundraiser will replace the sausage festival.
