Rain fails to hinder annual festival

Mother Nature threw John C. Fremont Days a curveball Saturday afternoon, but the festival adjusted. 
 
After getting hit by a storm late Friday night, a torrential downpour came early Saturday afternoon. JCF Days Board President Don Cunningham said everyone took the blip in stride. 
 
“We planned for rain this weekend, but we had it for 2 in the morning, not 2 in the afternoon,” he said. “But it came when it came and there was nothing we could do about it. Everybody adjusted as quickly as we could. We only lost a few events, but everybody came right back at 5 on Saturday.” 
 
Sheri Noordam of Naad Naturals aromatherapy products (www.naadnaturals.com) said the vendors in John C. Fremont City Park didn’t let Saturday’s storm get them down. 
 
“We basically hunkered down,” the Council Bluffs, Iowa, woman said. “We put up all of the sides of our tents. I was literally holding on to the sides of my tent to make sure it wouldn’t get blown away even though I have it weighted down. I felt like I was in a hurricane.” 
 
It was Noordam’s first time to John C. Fremont Days as a vendor, but she said it wouldn’t be her last. 
 
“I love this,” she said. “Everybody in Fremont is super supportive. It has really been a great experience despite all of the weather. The organizers here have done a great job.” 
 
Mel Lathrop of San Antonio is a veteran of the Craft Vendor Show. The Nebraska native comes to the three-day festival to visit his sister, former Clarkson Elementary second-grade teacher Karen Vande Stowe, and also set up his caricature tent. 
 
“This is my 20th year here,” he said. “I missed it in 2006 and 2019, but this is my 20th year of setting up here. I get a lot of repeat business here.”
 
Lathrop, who has been doing caricatures for a living since 1980, said he doesn’t go to many festivals. 
 
“In San Antonio I do more corporate parties,” he said. “But it is a good setup to do it here. People are really friendly here. A lot of my repeat business are (customers) I consider friends.” 
 
A popular attraction in the park was the “National Remember Our Fallen Exhibit,” honoring those who died while serving in the military. Cunningham said it was impactful. 
 
“It is impressive and it is also gut-wrenching,” he said. “The toughest part of this is when they put the pictures together, they have one of them in uniform and then they have one of them in life such as when they were a child. That’s what really gets you because you realize they are just like you and me.” 
 
This was the final JCF Days for Cunningham. He and his wife, Nan, moved from the city earlier this year. He said the festival will always be close to his heart and he hopes others in the community will get involved.
 
“The main thing is the board members who work on this and make it happen, they are really great people but we need more,” Cunningham said. “We’re losing almost half of our board so we need to have a lot of people step up and keep this going. It is a lot of work, but it is very fulfilling. It is exciting when you get in it and you kind of understand how it works. You’ll be part of a great team. Hopefully more people will jump in and make it happen again next year.”