West Tennessee Strawberry Festival powers through the rain

HUMBOLDT, Tenn. — As festival goers enjoyed the Strawberry Festival Wednesday afternoon, the tell tale signs of rain began to show. Our crews arrived shortly before a large storm front moved over the festival.

While on scene we first noticed the winds beginning to pick up, then random drops of water, and eventually came the rain. Many when the rain started made a mad dash for their vehicles for cover before they got too wet, while the most devoted of festival goers popped out their umbrellas and kept at it.

We spoke to the Mayor of Humboldt, Marvin Sikes, briefly before the showers came. Mayor Sikes stayed hopeful that the rain would quickly pass through and the festival would continue without a hitch. He told us his plan to combat the weather without disrupting the fun.

“We’re just going to move everything up just a little bit we’re going to have the strawberry shortcake at 7:30. Music is going to push up to 7:00,” said Mayor Sikes.

The heavy rain did pass but it continued to lightly rain until our crews left at 7:30. However, even with light rain still coming down, it did not stop many from getting out and enjoying the festival from underneath umbrellas. We spoke to Sara Ann Pope, the manager of pope’s concessions and rides about what they do when it rains. She told us, unless there’s a threat of severe weather, such as tornadoes, they continue to operate as normal.

“If it was going to be something like tornadoes or really bad weather we would take down flags and close awnings, make sure all our windows are shut to try and keep everything okay but tonight it wasn’t super bad weather so we just decided to stick it out,” said Pope.

While the rain may have caused some delays, it definitely didn’t stop the show. Crowds were still growing when our crews left at 7:30 and it seemed like even with rain, the night would still be full of fun.

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