Bah Humbug: Snow cancels Holiday Festival

The Johnston Community Center Association’s super streak has ended.

For the first time in a decade, the JCCA was forced to cancel Saturday’s 10th Annual Holiday Festival because of a threatening snow storm, the first of the season.

“Unfortunately, we had no other day to reschedule,” Glenn Carroll, the JCCA’s president, told the Sun Rise. “When weather forecasters were predicting anywhere from three to seven inches of snow for Saturday, there were many, many concerns to consider.”

While Carroll said “we all feel very, very badly about having to cancel, there was no other date available. So, we were faced with only one thing: a cancellation.”

As noted, there were many things the JCCA and co-sponsoring Johnston Parks and Recreation Department had to take into consideration.One in particular was that Okie’s Amusements, which would have brought its old time train and fire engine to Johnston War Memorial Park for free rides, could not operate either vehicle on anything less than dry pavement.

If the Holiday Festival did go on as scheduled, there could have been a huge parking problem that first prevented officials from moving the event indoors at Nicholas A. Ferri Middle School where rain twice in previous years forced the event to be held.

Moreover, Johnston played host to a large invitational basketball tournament that utilized all gymnasiums in the town as well as the new state of the art Indoor Recreation Center that was overflowing with teams that utilized all three courts from late morning into the evening hours.

Yet another factor was that some JCCA officials, namely Carroll and Vice President Mark Gilmore, had other commitments for this weekend and therefore the event could not be postponed until Saturday, Dec. 16.

As of press time, Carroll, Gilmore and the JCCA membership were devising a plan to distribute the bicycles and other prizes that would have been given away last Saturday.

“We want to thank everyone for their continued interest and support for the Holiday Festival,” Carroll concluded. “We’ll see everyone next year – 2018 – for the 11th Annual Holiday Festival and we all hope there’s not even a hint of snow at that time.”