Salisbury festival on Riverwalk returning with new look

A popular downtown festival will return to Salisbury’s Riverwalk in June after a 2-year hiatus and a rebranding.

The Downtown Salisbury Festival will debut June 2-4, featuring carnival rides, food, local vendors, arts and entertainment, Mayor Jake Day announced Friday morning.

“It will be good, wholesome family entertainment in a safe environment,” said Ernie Colburn, president and CEO of the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce.

The city will partner with the Chamber to host the three-day event, which was called “the Salisbury Festival reimagined,” by Jamie Heater, executive director of the Salisbury Arts and Entertainment District.

“It has a new name, new look, new logo, but we hope the event will feel very much like the Salisbury Festival did in its prime, along the river,” she said.

The Salisbury Festival, originally called the Dogwood Festival, began in the 1980s when the Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council held an event called Arts on the Plaza. The festival continued to feature arts and culture, but also provided a venue for local nonprofits to raise money.

The Chamber continued the festival for 32 years before retiring it in 2015.

“We felt we needed to hit the refresh button,” Colburn said.

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Chamber officials not give more specifics about the reasoning behind its cancellation in 2015, but said at the time it would work with the city in creating new events to reflect efforts to revitalize the downtown area.

Later that year, the Chamber announced it would hold a new annual event, Torches — Celebrating Community, to replace the Salisbury Festival, but a month later it, too, was canceled.

Recently, Heater was given the task of organizing a multi-day festival on the city’s newly refurbished Riverwalk. She approached Chamber staff who agreed to cosponsor the event with the city.

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“We’re just genuinely excited to be back in the game,” Colburn said.

The revamped festival has been moved to June because April weather is too unpredictable, Colburn said.

Anyone looking to be a sponsor, vendor or volunteer can get more information at www.downtownsalisburyfestival.com, Heater said.

“We are so excited to bring the long-running traditional downtown Salisbury Festival back in a big way,” Day said. “This will be an incredibly fun event for families, and will highlight the best of our arts community.”

On Twitter @LizHolland5