FORTVILLE — Family, friends and furry ones, too, flooded Main Street to celebrate the season at the annual Fortville WinterFest this past Saturday.
Officially starting at noon, the Town of Fortville and it’s park department had closed off Main Street for each side to be filled with vendors, booths, food, music and more for the community to enjoy.
A booth called The Hooked Sisters — ran by Angela Sterrett and Jennifer Shell — said this was their first year participating in the festival. Sterrett has family that are a part of Fortville Action Inc, and after being taught by Shell how to crochet during COVID-19, they both started the business this year and decided to join the festival. Sterrett also said she was looking forward to seeing her father-in-law play Santa in the parade.
Sterrett said that, toward the beginning of the festival, she was impressed by the amount of people that were coming through and at the event.
“We’re just excited to be a part of a small-town event,” Shell said.
Another business not too far from Fortville had its first-year booth set up right across from the ice skating rink — a front row seat to watch the children practice their skills.
Ashley Thompson from McCordsville is owner of Roses and Daffodils, where she had been working the business for about a year, creating items such as car coasters, pens with beaded designs and more, willing to create custom designs.
“We’re just trying to get our name out there. We’ve been participating in some of the smaller local ones, but this one is a bigger one so we’re excited to get out here and do stuff,” Thompson said.
As time continued to get closer to 1:30 p.m., the sides of the streets became more crowded with little ones near the curb waiting for the parade to start, and the opportunity to grab some sweet treats.
One Fortville resident, who has lived there almost her whole life, sat down with her little dog ready to watch the parade and catch the occasional chocolate.
Barbara Terrell has been coming to Fortville’s WinterFest and watching the parade the past five years, but this year was the first time she brought her pup, Sasha May.
Terrell said some of her favorite things about the festival are being able to socialize with all the people and, this year, allowing Sasha May to be able to get used to people. Terrell also mentioned that she loves all the food that comes with the festival.
For someone who has never been to the festival, Terrell said they need to come if given the opportunity.
“It’s growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve got a lot more people,” Terrell said.
Milda Sterrett, one of the founding members of Fortville Action Inc, said that the first festival was in 2010, where a group of citizens put on a smaller event. When Fortville Action Inc. was founded in 2011, they took over and held the first organized WinterFest.
Sterrett said that this past year Fortville Action Inc. turned the event over to the Town of Fortville and the parks department and said that they have done a great job.
