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Campbell brings back weekend summer festival after decade-long hiatus
CAMPBELL
After a decade-long hiatus, the city will once again host a three-day festival this holiday weekend.
The Campbell SummerFest – formerly Campbell City Fest – returns today at Roosevelt Park beginning at 4 p.m. and runs through Sunday night.
The event will include a weekend-long auction, 50/50 drawings, food vendors, rides, a parade and will culminate on Sunday night with a fireworks show.
Mayor Nick Phillips, city Administrator Lew Jackson and a committee of residents organized this year’s festival.
“We haven’t had a festival in a long time, and I’ve wanted to bring it back for the last four years, but we couldn’t make it work. This year we were able to do it, and we decided to re-brand it as the SummerFest,” Phillips said.
Funds generated from the raffles and auction will go to benefit the park.
The original City Fest ceased operations during Campbell’s near decade-long period of fiscal emergency, which ended in 2013.
Tom Mesaros, president of the Campbell SummerFest Committee, said the community never forgot about the festival.
“The community wanted it back, and we had some committee members come back from the City Fest days. We had support from the mayor and the council,” Mesaros said.
“Mayor Phillips pushed us hard, so we pushed with him. We’re excited for the festival’s return. It’s going to be good. We’re just hoping for good weather,” Mesaros said.
Saturday, the city’s Independence Day weekend parade will begin at St. Lucy Church on Tenney Avenue at noon and travel to Roosevelt Park.
Mesaros said the committee is expecting a “very good turnout” of a few hundred people between Friday and Saturday, but anticipates Sunday will be very busy.
“Sunday is the big night. It’s always full,” he said. “We’ve got the raffle and auction drawings that night, plus we have fireworks. It’s the night when everyone comes out.”