ST. PETERS, Mo. — For Jacqueline Schuk-Foust and her husband David Foust, just getting out on their front porch can be difficult.
“We don't get out that often,” Schuk-Foust said. “He needs 24/7 care.”
Foust suffered a serious brain hemorrhage and is in a wheelchair. On Friday, the couple ventured out to a festival, Celebrate St. Peters, to watch a concert.
“This was something he truly wanted to do,” Schuk-Faust said.
When the couple got to the festival site, 370 Lakeside Park, they had trouble finding parking for their wheelchair van. Schuk-Faust said she was told the accessible spaces were full, so she could either take a shuttle or leave her husband at an entrance, park and then meet him.
Shuk-Faust said her husband would not be able to get on the shuttle because there was no wheelchair lift. Also, she did not feel safe leaving her husband unattended.
“By then, it would have been 20-30 minutes and I can't leave him for that long. Cannot leave him,” she said.
Shuk-Faust said they decided to leave.
“I cried the whole way home. He kept telling me, ‘I want to see Sawyer Brown. I want to go to the concert,’” she said.
A spokesperson for the City of St. Peters sent the following statement:
“Thanks to the tireless efforts of hundreds of staff and community volunteers to recover from the flooding this year, St. Peters was able to welcome nearly 20,000 residents and visitors to Celebrate St. Peters in 370 Lakeside Park, a public park that was under 18 feet of water a little over two months ago.
The City offered four options for accessible parking at this free festival including a drop-off area near the festival grounds inside the park and exceeded the code requirements for accessible parking. This information was provided in City publications, the City’s TV station SPTV, on the City website (https://www.stpetersmo.net/celebrate-st-peters-parking.aspx) and through other information distributed via social media and in the news media regarding the festival.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused to some who wished to attend the event this year, but we always work hard to have a great festival experience for all of our residents and guests who want to Celebrate St. Peters.”
