Maifest Successfully Moves Indoors Saturday

By Benjamin Cox on May 2, 2022 at 9:05am

Jacksonville Main Street had to rearrange some plans on Saturday, but still managed to get a great event together.

Maifest was originally supposed to be hosted on the Downtown Square, but a threat of rain and storms throughout the day had to push things to McClelland Dining Hall on the old MacMurray College campus.

Jacksonville Main Street Executive Director Judy Tighe says that vendors, craft beer lovers, and music lovers all showed up to make the afternoon great: “I’m so grateful that we have the opportunity to work with Mike Hayes and Water’s Edge Winery and McClelland Dining Hall so that this is an option. This a fabulous Plan B. Obviously, with the last few days of weather, everybody knows that Plan B has been a good thing to have. We’re really, really happy with the turnout. We had almost 40 different craft beers to sample. We had plenty of food and music. It turned out to be a good day.”

Tighe says the event also wouldn’t have had such a seamless transition to the indoor venue without the constant support of Main Street’s volunteers. The next Main Street event will be the kick off of the Downtown Concert Series next month with C.J. Ryder and the Past Masters.