OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The 52nd annual AppleJack Harvest Festival is one of the few large events still happening in 2020, though things will be done a little differently this year due to COVID-19.
Instead of having a three-day event, in which 70,000 people are expected to flood the streets of Nebraska City, the festival will take place over four weekends in the hopes of smaller crowds.
“If people are going to come, let’s be prepared for them," said Tammy Partsch, marketing director for Nebraska City Tourism and Commerce. "Let’s make sure they have the safest place to go and that we have safe activities. So we made some changes this year because of that, but also a big part of that was we’ve had to- like everyone- we’ve had to cancel a lot of events this year, and our economy has taken a hit.”
The festival will feature many of the classics like the parade which will have mask and sanitizing stations throughout, but it will be a look-only event, so no candy will be handed out.
There will also be some new features like the Bloody Mary Championship and Food Truck Street Fair.
The organizers say they had been toying with the idea of spreading the festival over several weekends for awhile and 2020 presented the conditions to put that idea into action.
“This gives them the opportunity to come whenever they want to, and they’re not always going to hit the exact same thing," Partsch said. "But we’re hoping that if we offer something different on each of these weekends, that people are going to be able to choose."
You can find a list of all the events at gonebraskacity.com. Some events will be ticketed so, attendees are encouraged to go online or call beforehand.
