130,000 ATTEND RECORD-SETTING 2005 KUTZTOWN FESTIVAL

 

More Information: Dave Fooks, 610-683-1537
e-mail: david@kutztownfestival.com

An all-time record attendance of more than 130,000 visitors– ten percent higher than last year – helped to make the 2005 Kutztown Festival the most successful in its 55-year history. Two days were individual record-setting days with more visitors attending than ever before.

“We are very pleased about the turnout and the response from our visitors, and we are also truly grateful to everyone who made this year's Festival the best ever,” reported Festival Director Dave Fooks.

Visitors to the 2005 Festival were from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Maryland, as well as from nineteen other states and ten foreign nations.

In particular, Fooks complimented the more than 200 volunteers who served as greeters and as attendants in various areas. “Volunteers are the backbone of our event, and we truly could not run the Festival without them,” he said. “They are community-minded and proud of the Festival. Many return to work as volunteers year after year,” he said.

In addition, about 150 local organizations and business sponsors were partners with the festival in 2005, another record for the festival. They provided important support and, in turn, received recognition and visibility for their products and services.

Over 1,000 jobs are created for the duration of the nine-day festival, and twenty-six local non-profit organizations raise money for their own purposes through the sale of food and other items. For many of these groups, this is the major fund-raiser of the year.

RECORD-SETTING 2005 FESTIVAL

The festival held annually at the Kutztown Fairgrounds is the longest running folklife festival in the country.

With its focus on Pennsylvania German history and traditions, the festival has developed a strong relationship with the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, the Pennsylvania German Society, and local groups such as the Grundsow and Versammling lodges and the Pennsylvania Dutch Hex Tour Association – all of which are represented at the festival. Every day during the festival, the seminar stage has presentations on more than a dozen topics of Pennsylvania Dutch life and lore. Altogether, there are six stages of non-stop entertainment and over 300 performers and presenters.

The festival draws 220 top artisans who demonstrate their skills in Pennsylvania German and other Early American crafts. In the past few years, the festival has hosted the largest sale of traditional handmade quilts in the nation - about 2,500 were available last year. Many are made by local Mennonite women and represent the finest, authentic Pennsylvania Dutch skill and craftsmanship. Among 250 quilts purchased at the 2005 auction was one that sold for a record $14,000.

The annual economic impact of the Kutztown Festival as measured by the International Festival and Events Association is estimated at over $11.5 million – reflecting both direct and indirect spending by visitors, vendors, suppliers, and temporary employment and local tax revenue generated.

Just how well the festival is succeeding is reflected in its selection by Sourcebook as ninth among the top 600 craft festivals in the country in 2004, and

being chosen twice in recent years by the American Bus Association as one of the top tour destinations in North America.

Last year, USA Today Magazine listed the Kutztown Festival as one of the top fifty offbeat festivals nationwide. Locally, Berks County Living magazine's readers have chosen the festival as the best in the county for the past two years.

The festival celebrates the colorful heritage of German settlers who came to the region two centuries ago and became known as the “Pennsylvania Dutch.” The dates for the 2006 Kutztown Festival at the Kutztown Festival are July 1 to July 9.

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