This may be your last chance to attend one of York County’s most beloved festivals

One of York County’s longest-running festivals returns this weekend. But it may be the last time.

The city of York will decide once Summerfest ends whether to bring it back next year. If not, it would end a signature event but perhaps make way for a new one.

“Nothing’s been decided yet,” said Mayor Mike Fuesser. “We elected to go forth with Summerfest this year, and we’ll evaluate after that.”

Heat, trademark issue could end Summerfest

Summerfest is an annual staple in downtown York with food, music and games. It began 40 years ago as an expansion of a popular chamber of commerce barbecue event at the time. This year’s event has carnival rides and a BMX bike show, along with bands like The Catalinas and Next Level Band of Charlotte.

In July, city community engagement director Becky Mestas approached city council with an idea to replace Summerfest. Starting next year, the city would host the White Rose Festival. A fall event could help avoid health concerns and staffing issues that have grown in recent years due to heat, council members said.

“Last year and years previous, the heat just gets progressively worse,” said city community events coordinator Chloe Jones.

There’s also a trademark issue. Summerfest shares a name with a massive three-weekend music festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. owns the trademark to “Summerfest,” creating an infringement issue in York, according to the city.

York’s agreement with Milwaukee World Festival to use Summerfest extends through next year, according to the city.

The city would trademark White Rose Festival to avoid similar issues in the future, Mestas told council in July. Council members put off a final decision until its September meeting, after this year’s Summerfest.

Fuesser likes the tradition of Summerfest, and how it’s set apart from the busy spring and fall community event calendars throughout the region.

“In my opinion, it’s York’s day in the sun,” he said. “But it’s a council decision decision.”

Summerfest among York County’s top festivals

Summerfest is one of York County’s longest-running community festivals. Only Come-See-Me , Rock Hill’s spring gathering that began in 1962, is older. Catawba Nation culture and heritage event Yap Ye Iswa goes back to at least 1990. Feis Chlobhair began in 1997, running as different names since as Clover’s annual Highland Games celebration.

Rock Hill added ChristmasVille in 2006. Fort Mill introduced the South Carolina Strawberry Festival in 2010.

Summerfest began on Aug. 25, 1984. It started as a fundraiser for the Greater York Chamber of Commerce. The first event had a 5K and fun run, antique cars, barbecue plates. Fans could meet York Comprehensive High School athletes. Booths cost $20, and people could sign up for tours of Catawba Nuclear Station.

The chamber ran Summerfest for most of its history. It was contracted out for a couple of years before the city took it on in 2020. The city canceled it that year, as happened to festivals throughout the region did with the COVID pandemic. At its peak Summerfest probably had 40,000 or 50,000 people a year, Fuesser said. Since COVID it’s probably been closer to 20,000 or 25,000.

Changing an iconic festival

There’s precedent for changing beloved festivals in York County, including Summerfest.

During the second Summerfest in 1985, as war reenactments and fireworks celebrated York County’s bicentennial year, locals told the Herald it could grow to fill the void left when the Grape Festival ended years earlier. Herald archives show York held its first Grape Festival in 1965, and it ran until 1981.

In Fort Mill, Fest-i-Fun was a spring festival that began in 1982. It was mostly for locals, but when the town replaced it — briefly with Springfest before starting the Strawberry Festival — it grew. Now the town-run festival is a year-round planning event that brings in tens of thousands of participants from inside and outside the town each spring.

Summerfest is a major undertaking in York. Planning begins at least by January for each year’s late summer event, Fuesser said. Which is why the city needs to know soon what it should plan for next year.

Community members fall on both sides of the potential change, Jones said. Many ask to push the event, which got its date when the chamber asked state tourism pros decades ago for a date that wouldn’t conflict with other celebrations, to a cooler time of the year. Others don’t want it moved.

“A lot of people like the tradition of Summerfest,” Jones said. “And I get that.”

Regardless what the city decides, there will be a festival planned for next year and beyond.

“The main part is just giving the city of York a cute little festival where people can enjoy one another,” Jones said.

Until that decision comes, visitors have at least one more Summerfest to enjoy. Even if it’s the last of its kind.

Want to go?

Summerfest runs 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday in downtown York. There’s a golf tournament Friday morning and a classic car show on Saturday, too. Vendors, food trucks, carnival rides, games and live entertainment will be included. For more, visit the city website or Summerfest on Facebook .