Jordan Fall Festival Postponed to 2021

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It is with a heavy heart that the festival committee has voted to postpone our annual Jordan Fall Festival until 2021. With the unknowns of the future of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must put our over four-hundred volunteers and thousands of festival patrons first to ensure their health and safety. Our festival falls in the time period that some models are predicting a second wave of COVID-19 could come. We want to ensure we are part of the solution and not provide a gathering where we contribute to the spread of the virus. We are looking forward to celebrating our 75th year in 2021.

The Jordan Fall festival was developed in 1946 as a means to fund an ice skating rink for the community. It was an auction type sale with community donations and a single concession stand. The Jordan Community Council was formed as the governing body to oversee and administer the event funds. 

Unfortunately, tragedy struck the small village of Jordan, when a young girl drowned in a reservoir on Brutus Rd. The purpose of the events funds changed that day and the founding committee declared that a community pool, where swimming lessons could be given for all the children of Jordan and surrounding communities, was more important than an ice skating rink. 

74 years later the “who” and “what” of the Fall Festival may have changed, but the “why” remains the same. The Fall Festival is the sole contributor to the funding of the Community Council who oversees the funds to help support many community organizations including the Jordan Memorial Pool. 

Thankfully, we have had wise volunteers on the council who ensured funds were set aside each year to create a discretionary emergency fund. That will help with the monetary shortfall this year. 

We are also looking at alternative means to mitigate reaching deep into that fund. Some options being discussed are offering drive through donut sales, a must have staple of the festival, and perhaps hosting just one of the events in our traditional festival line up, such as the car show. These both will depend on New York State and Onondaga County guidelines. Regardless of what September brings, you can be sure that the 2021 Festival will return with renewed energy and a huge sense of pride that this small community has sustained the tradition for 75 years. See you September 17, 18 and 19, 2021! 

Craft and Merchant vendors will be contacted by mail regarding their booth rental. We hope to see you return in 2021.