With what will be the 100th annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival scheduled to get underway on Franklin Street in seven weeks, and COVID-19 cases back on the rise across the Tri-State due to the Delta variant, the West Side Nut Club, Vanderburgh Co. Health Dept, and Mayor Winnecke came together for a joint press conference in front of the west branch library on Franklin Street to encourage everyone who plans on attending or volunteering at the West Side Nut Club Fall Festival in October to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

The Club was forced to cancel last year's event due to COVID however, that was before vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson were manufactured and made widely available to those who wanted them. Mayor Lloyd Winnecke started today's press conference by stressing that the plan is for this year's Fall Festival to move forward as scheduled for now.

In a press release, the Nut Club stated, "We know our community is incredibly excited about this year's Festival, and so are we," said Mike Hahn, chairman of this year's Fall Festival. "After last year's Festival had to be canceled, we want to continue forward with plans to have the Festival, and we want those who will be participating to be as safe as possible."

“Our street vendors are being mindful of not only crowded sidewalks and walkways at the Festival, but are also concerned about the thousands of volunteers who staff the more than 130 food booths over the course of the week,” said Joe Pettijean, Streets Chairman. “We know they’ll be close together inside the booth, and handling food, so we really want them to be thinking about how to reduce their risk in advance of October.”
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Ryan Beck, Media Coordinator for the West Side Nut Club, and Lynn Herr from the Vanderburgh County Health Department also spoke during the short press conference Monday morning and said their organizations have been and will continue working closely with one another in the coming weeks in an effort to make sure the public can enjoy the annual event as safe as possible.

The 100th edition of the festival is scheduled for Oct 4-9, 2021 this year. Because both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses with a waiting period in between, officials are urging those who wish to attend the Fall Festival to get vaccinated in the next two weeks so they'll have time to become fully vaccinated before the event.

According to the Indiana COVID-19 website, Vanderburgh and all its surrounding counties are currently in orange or red status with many cases being attributed to the more contagious Delta variant.

If you'd like to become vaccinated, there are several places in the tri-state to do just that. See the Indiana COVID Vaccination page for a list of vaccination sites.

KEEP READING: 21 COVID-19 Testing Sites in the Tri-State

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