Whiskey Rebellion Festival returns Saturday
Observer-Reporter
Reenactors walk past the Washington County Courthouse during the Whiskey Rebellion Festival parade in this photo from 2018.
Observer-Reporter
Young visitors to the 2018 Whiskey Rebellion Festival try their hand at a colonial hoop game.
The Whiskey Rebellion Festival is fast approaching, and organizers believe the scaled-back event will still feel familiar.
“I’m really excited that we were able to bring back all of our key components,” said Joe Piszczor, co-chairman of the festival committee. “That’s special, and we’re hoping that it’s supportive of all the local businesses.”
What is typically a four-day extravaganza will take place almost entirely on Saturday, July 10. The festival will actually kick off Friday evening at 8 p.m. with a live performance from the Washington Symphony Orchestra.
The performance will be the orchestra’s first performance since the coronavirus pandemic began.
“That was an unexpected addition,” Piszczor said.
Though it is technically the start of the festival, Piszczor says amenities like the food trucks will not be open until Saturday.
“We encourage everyone to patronize a local restaurant or bar, then see the symphony at 8,” he said.
Saturday will be filled with plenty of food, live theater and music. The Whiskey Rebellion Theatre Troupe will put on its first performance at the main stage on South Main Street at noon, while the rest will take place at Madeline’s Garden at the LeMoyne House.
“We’ll have a full set of historical theater. Our Whiskey Rebellion Theatre Troupe has five scenes prepared for us,” Piszczor said. “They’re really how we tell the story of the rebellion.”
Similarly, musical performances will also be split between the main stage and the LeMoyne House. Headlining the festival this year will be “The Jakob’s Ferry Stragglers.”
“They’ve kind of grown up with the festival. They’re real excited to be headlining. They were supposed to be headlining it last year,” Piszczor said.
The festival was canceled last year due to the pandemic, and it also led to this year’s event being scaled back.
Preparations for this year’s festival took place while there were restrictions on crowd sizes, but those are no longer in place.
“We still have a lot going on. It’s good to not have to worry about those crowd restrictions. That was good news,” Piszczor said.