Impact of canceled festivals on local vendors and businesses

(WJHL) – A week before the Apple Festival and the National Storytelling Festival were set to take place, Hurricane Helene swept through the region. Organizers decided to cancel the events, impacting local vendors and businesses.

News Channel 11 reached out to business owners who benefit from the festivals. Many said, that although they’re taking a hit from the cancellations, it’s nothing compared to the loss and devastation of many people impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Angelica Markland owns a jewelry-making business called Artistic Icing. She’s a longtime vendor of the Apple Festival.

“I was really relieved when they did cancel it knowing all of the stuff coming through town and all the devastation, I didn’t think our town could handle it,” Markland said.

Markland said the Apple Festival is usually her biggest event of the year.

“It’s the biggest impact probably festival-wise for my business as far as giving my family what we need to get through the winter months usually.”

Markland is making up for the loss, by doing more live sales through her Facebook page. She’s also making jewelry and keychains to help flood victims.

“I’ve got “Noli Strong” on some for the Nolichucky River, “Appalachian Strong,” “Appalachia Rising,” Tennessee Strong,” North Carolina Strong,” Markland said. “So I’ll keep doing that, keep donating part of those profits and hopefully help people in the long term as well.”

She said using part of her profits to help others in the community is a way to give back.

“I heard of a lady that needed some bed pads for an older lady, and she had lost everything,” Markland said.

“So I thought that’s something that I can do. I got on Amazon, ordered those and got them to that lady. So mainly, if I hear of a need, I want to fill that need because I like to be a little bit more personal than just donating it to an organization. So if I see that an organization needs it, then I can. But I’d like to be a little bit personal about it.”

Brian Mills is the owner of the Jonesborough Bed and Breakfast. He usually has visitors staying at his home, doubling as his business during the festival.

“I was ready to have people come and stay,” Mills said. “I mean, one lovely couple haven’t met actually. They’ll be coming back next year. They were on a road trip, so it took two days because they were camping. They did not check their emails or, you know, I couldn’t get hold of them and they just had to turn around and I mean, can you imagine? They took time off. They spent their money to drive here and then, you know, to find out.”

Mills said despite the cancellation, the impact on his business doesn’t amount to the loss of others.

“Yeah, it was disappointing,” Mills said. “But in this context, people have lost everything. This is a minor inconvenience, compared to the poor folks who’ve lost everything.”

Mills also works for the non-profit Art Transforms. He hoped to use funds from the Storytelling Festival to help with programming for the non-profit.

“We’d need to pay the educators who are providing the program,” Mills said. “[And] you don’t want to cut it back. You want to provide more programming. That was another little setback. But, you know, it’ll be fine. I’ll go and write another grant and we will be successful. We’ve been doing the non-profit for ten years and we will continue to support the community in that regard. So we’ll be just fine.”

Mills said he’s heard the Storytelling Festival be referred to as Christmas for many businesses. Many of them count on sales from the festival to make up a lot of their revenue.

“So, yes, we lost the money. But you know what? We were able to turn that around and volunteer and help those who have greater need,” Mills said. “So to me, it’s fine. Take care of the people who need it.”

Markland said vendors that were going to be at the Apple Festival, including herself, will be at Erwin’s Small Business Saturday market. It’s traditionally held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

“I think the next [Apple] Festival will probably be the biggest ever and if we can just get past this, we’ll get rewarded later on,” Markland said.

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