FLORISSANT, Mo. — The Valley of Flowers festival is back on the streets of Florissant and they kicked off the festivities with family night.
It’s the 62nd year of the festival where generations of families have been making memories.
“I've been doing this for 45 years. And over time, you watch the little ones become big ones and their little ones become big ones. And you'll see them coming back for more,” Mike Kubiak with the Knights of Columbus said.
Amanda Dempsey said not much has changed since she came to the festival as a child.
“It's a blast from the past, but it's nice to be able to bring your family and do the same thing that you did growing up,” Dempsey said.
The Valley of Flowers festival started in the early 1960s.
“It started out as a gardening club and they wanted to beautify Florissant and they thought, well, why not have a flower festival around it,” Kubiak said.
And it keeps growing, there are more rides and vendors this year, especially for families with little kids.
“Having my son right here I gotta show him good time you know, let them know they're able to do it as a kid. Some of us didn't get that growing up so I'm trying to make those memories,” Jonathan Sharp said.
Adriana Martin said it was their first time at family night with the kids.
“It's awesome. They love it. It's a great event. It is a beautiful night,” Martin said.
Kubiak said it took a while to get the festival back to full strength after the pandemic and even flooding in the area.
“When we had the 500 year flood, it did it actually flood the lower level of our building out, everything up here is higher than the flood actually reached,” Kubiak said.
But the mission behind the whole weekend is still the same.
“This venue for the Knights of Columbus allows us to raise money for all of our charity activities. So all of the profits go to charity,” Kubiak said.
For more information on this weekend’s events click here.