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Fall festival showcases downtown Cary

The Cary Grove Area Chamber of Commerce will host its second annual Cary Main Street Fest Sept. 19 and 20 to showcase downtown, its businesses and restaurants.

The outdoor fall festival will feature craft beer and wine selections, a marketplace of vendors and artists, live entertainment, and a children's area all within one block of 100 W. Main St., one side street and two parking lots. The festival will run noon to 10 p.m. Sept. 19, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 20.

Last year's festival drew about 5,500 visitors to downtown and was "wildly successful," said Brad Ball, chamber executive director.

"Clearly, there is a desire for a large community event like this in downtown," Ball said. "Last year, we had about 12½ weeks to put together this great big celebration of community. We laid a really strong foundation last year."

Organizers came within 1 percent - about $1,500 - of breaking even on festival expenses last year, he added.

"We were happy about that," Ball said. "It would have been great to make some money."

This year, organizers had 24 weeks to plan and prepare.

"We're hoping for real nice growth in terms of attendance," Ball said. "We would love to see that go up 50 percent ... between 7,500 and 10,000 people would be my lofty goal. We're still looking at about 200 volunteers for the weekend."

Among the main attractions will be an open-air showing of the NFL game between the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.

"We're contracting with a big screen company," Ball said. "We're really hoping that it's going to help bring people to the event on Sunday morning. Last year, the Bears were playing the Packers, so we were really quiet until about 3 to 4 p.m. on Sunday."

Also, new this year is a fresh entertainment lineup with no repeat performers from last year. Among the bands playing on the main stage are: The Aunt Janet Band, Suburban Cowboys, No Alternative, Face N Time, CAT 5, Jump Taxi, The Wiggle-O's, and Boom Shakalaka.

"It's one of the things we wanted to do to help set Cary Main Street Fest apart, we are bringing on new entertainment every year," Ball said.

Local artists will exhibit their talents through live art creation and interactive displays.

The family stage will feature theater, dance, magic and other interactive children's programming.

Event sponsors include the village of Cary, Algonquin Township Road District and Cary State Farm agents.

A $5 donation is requested for entry. Festival proceeds benefit local school groups and nonprofits, and fund chamber projects and annual programming, beautification efforts, the chamber's Volunteer Grant Program and sponsorships throughout the year.

For more information, visit CaryMainStreetFest.com.

The Cary Grove Area Chamber of Commerce will host its second annual Cary Main Street Fest Sept. 19 and 20. Last year's fest was "wildly successful," according to Brad Ball, the chamber's executive director. Courtesy of Wolfe Photo
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