Park sold out for Blueberry

Chamber fills up booth spaces months in advance of July event

From all indications, Whiteside Park and Ely’s Blueberry/Art Festival will be even busier this summer than it’s been the last two years.

For the first time in recent history, the park will be filled to capacity with vendors for the annual summer spectacular, set this year for July 26-28.

In all, the park will be filled with more than 260 venders, up from approximately 215 a year ago.

Eva Sebesta, executive director for the Ely Chamber of Commerce, told city council members this week that all of the available booth spaces have been sold out - and that the Chamber has established a waiting list in case of cancellations.

While the festival drew thousands to the city park last year, there was ample room for additional vendors.

That won’t be the case in 2024, as the Chamber has filled all 237 of its arts and craft spaces and another 25 food booths, plus additional spots for the food and beverages sold by Ely’s Kiwanis club in the park pavilion.

“This is the first time we’ve ever been sold out this early,” Sebesta said Thursday.

Festival vendors reported brisk business in 2023, and the park filled with big crowds and long lines at food booths.

Sebesta said that word of mouth may have prompted the significant and early interest for booth space.

“We’ve got some really fantastic vendors that are talking to people at other shows,” she said.

The result was a sell out, a waiting list and some diverting of vendors to the September Harvest Moon Festival, which is already about two-thirds full.

The 2024 festival will be the 43rd and will include many new artists among the vendors.

A kids’ section has also been added, which Sebesta said would include “kidtype crafts that are going to be down by the playground area.”

Typically Ely’s busiest weekend of the year, Bluebery/Art weekend had a couple of hiccups earlier in the decade, with the 2020 festival scrapped because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2021 event canceled midstream after the park was ravaged by a severe thunderstorm.