Port street party will have to wait for a better day

Port Washington’s Community Street Festival, which was canceled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be held this year, but not on Memorial Day weekend when it is traditionally held.

Instead, the Port Washington Main Street Inc. board plans to hold the festival in June or July, when pandemic restrictions may be lessened, Nate Sherper, president of the Main Street board of directors, said.

“By then, we think we can run it similar to what we’ve done in the past,” he said. “Everyone will feel a little more normal.”

Sherper said the board made the decision last week after reviewing the regulations it would have to follow due to the pandemic and talking to a number of key participating businesses.

“The consensus was we would be better served by holding it later in the year,” Sherper said. 

In a letter to downtown business owners, Sherper said, “We want to hold a party as much as anyone else, but we know the additional restrictions we would be required to implement — such as fenced off eating areas that limit the ability to serve, additional festival space that would limit downtown parking and added costs for hand sanitizer stations and other requirements —will be a detriment to many of those businesses that participated in the past.

“We know the added cost and effort we would all put in would not result in the foot traffic and revenue we would hope for.”

By mid-summer, he said, restrictions may be lessened as more people are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

And, he added, the weather is likely to be more conducive to the festival as well.

“We don’t want it to be August or September,” Sherper said, noting that the festival has traditionally kicked off the summer season in Port Washington.

Many of the downtown businesses highlight the opening of summer and hold specials and sales, and Sherper said Main Street will work on a special promotion to highlight those events.

The Community Street Festival began in 2008 as a way to celebrate the opening of Franklin Street, which had been reconstructed. It has been held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend ever since, with the exception of last year and now this year.