KIMMSWICK, Mo. — Thousands, if not tens of thousands of people, descended upon the Jefferson County river town of Kimmswick, this weekend, for the annual Apple Butter Festival.
The size of the crowds would tell you that all is well with the when-the-weather-permits fall festival.
Andrea Schnetzler, of The Berry Nutty Farm out of Independence, can only account for Saturday.
“It was wild and crazy,” said Schnetzler. She had to drive halfway back to Kansas City overnight, Saturday, to get another batch of apple butter.
“It’s a wonderful problem to have,” she said, “a big blessing.”
A lot has happened since last year, when flooding and the pandemic forced Kimmswick Mayor Phil Stang to ask for donations to save this tourist town that is rich in history.
Stang said, “We had gone through cancelation of three of these major festivals, which account for, on any given year, about 80 percent of the city’s revenues."
Add a successful strawberry festival season, and an occasional riverboat carrying a brand-new batch of tourists, and you have what may be a recovery in progress.
“The most vendors we’ve ever had is about 800,” said Stang. “We’ve got about 600 vendors, this year, but the crowds are immense.”
Curt Poling owns The Blessed Bee Company in Waterloo, IL.
“We have our Scorpion Sting honey,” said Poling. “I grow the super-hot peppers from seeds in the home and eventually bring them outside. I infuse the honey; hence, Scorpion Sting Honey.”
At the Son of a Buck Blacksmithing booth, Isaiah Macey sells handmade knives and jewelry.
“This is our second time here,” said Macey. “The first time we were here it rained really hard, and the weather had no effect on it.”
Stang says Kimmswick’s calendar moving forward includes an ambitious riverboat schedule. “In the future, we have agreements where we have 10-14 riverboats per year, for the next 11 years.”
Stang says Kimmswick is also seeing tourists drive to town to see the riverboats when they dock at their new port.