Downtown Mount Vernon Major Events
25th Annual Skagit Valley Street Fair
April 17, 18, & 19, 2009
Friday 10-6 PM, Saturday 10-6 PM & Sunday 10-5 PM
Sponsored by the Downtown Business Community, the Street Fair is being held April 17, 18, & 19, 2009. in downtown Mount Vernon. Eight blocks of Downtown's First Street will be closed and filled with arts, craft, music, magic and more. Food vendors cook up a wide variety of delicious cuisines from good ol' American burgers, corndogs and curly fries to Mexican and Thai specialities. For dessert don't miss the mini-donuts, fruit on a stick, elephant ears, ice cream and more, much, much more!
Rain or shine, snow or hail, the Fair is on, but we have ordered nice weather this year. We have earned it after last year. 2008 was the first time the fair has ever gotten snow, but our returning vendors said that the customers who visited, came to shop, which is what we like to hear. Last year we had more things for the kids from clowns and balloon animals, face painting, to decorateable Frisbees and Uncle Stinky the Magician performing in Pine Square throughout the weekend.
Part of the reason we are able to pull things together so well, and also the reason people have commented on how clean our streets and sidewalks are, is our partnerships with the Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation. We are blessed to have a dedicated crew who work hard from Thursday through Monday to leave no detail untouched. Crowds of between 15,000-30,000 people visit us the weekend of the festival, and by Monday at noon, you would never know an event of any kind had occurred. We are proud to work side by side with the crew from Parks and Rec. While you are visting you should check out our awesome parks system also! The City Streets Dept., the Mount Vernon Police Dept. and many other groups work with us to make this a great event. Skagit County even opens its parking lots for customer parking on Saturday and Sunday.
Many fan favorites will be back again this year. Andrew Sewell, one of our long time vendors has graciously donated the poster and the Street Fair's postcard for the 2009 Tulip Festival. You can find the postcard in downtown businesses or purchase the Tulip Festival poster at the Tulip Festival office in January 2009.
Be sure to check out the entertainment schedule. Las year we had a wonderful collection of family-friendly performances of both music and dance. Ellen Gamson worked tirelessly to assemble a wide variety of music styles and other acts to please everyone's tastes.
Last year's festival has the most diverse group of artists we have ever had. Artists from nine states (Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, and Nevada) came to showcase their hand crafted goods. We are very pleased and happy with group of artisans presenting at this year's Tulip Festival Street Fair, and we invite you to come to downtown Mount Vernon and see for yourselves!
