Participants excited for 101st West Side Nut Club Fall Festival

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - The highly anticipated West Side Nut Club Fall Festival is rapidly approaching and participants are sharing their excitement.

Participating community members, churches and nonprofits are looking forward to the Tri-State’s largest street festival.

West Side Nut Club officials said on Monday that there will be around 130 nonprofit food booths at the festival.

They also said the Half Pot is back, and there are 67 new additions to the Munchie map.

The festival starts on Sunday, Oct. 2 through Oct. 8.

Many people are excited for the food, rides and the memories, but the many nonprofits that serve the festival say they are excited to raise some extra funds.

The Evansville Association for the Blind is one such nonprofit that serves people who are blind and visually impaired from birth through their whole life.

Executive Director Karla Horrell said their organization relies on opportunities like the fall festival to raise money.

“Many of those services have no funding, so they live on donations, grants and fundraising,” she said.

She said she’s grateful for the event and how it positively impacts the community.

“This represents not only our biggest fundraiser for the year as the west side nut club but also for these not for profit booths,” said 2022 Fall Festival Publicity Chairman, Brian Woods.

Fundraising coordinator for the Special Olympics of Vanderburgh County Tami Kellems said the fall festival is the biggest fundraiser they do for their athletes.

They sell pickle-themed foods from their food booth, and Kellems said the funds keep athletes training, their programs running all year long, and pay for entry fees and transportation.

“All the proceeds that we make on the fall festival keeps them training, competing, going to state competitions,” said Kellems.

She said they had been participating in these events since 2010 but were unable to participate for the past couple of years due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Special Olympics of Vanderburgh County and the Evansville Association for the Blind can be found on the Munchie map on St. Joseph Ave. and Franklin St. at booths 81 and 83.

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