Rain forces postponement of Sprankle’s Maifest
The stretch of wet weather in Western Pennsylvania over the last week has claimed another casualty — the German-themed Maifest event, which was scheduled for May 9 and 10 at Sprankle Woods in the southeastern part of the county.
Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market, the event’s organizer, has announced the postponement of the event due to the “recent significant storms and flooding, and continued power outages.”
“Our priority is ensuring a safe and enjoyable event for everyone, and right now, with the onset of last night’s large quantity of rain and the distinct additional impact it has had on our community, we cannot in good faith move forward with a celebration,” reads a news release posted to the Sprankle Woods website.
“With the crazy weather we’ve been having, we thought it’d be in bad taste,” said Doug Sprankle, the owner of the Saxonburg location of Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market.
Instead, the Sprankle family have lent out some of the heavy equipment at Sprankle Woods — including power generators, pumps, and skid loaders — to those in the immediate area who have been negatively impacted by the recent storms.
“People have asked to use our pumps and other heavy equipment to help with tree removal and things of that nature,” Sprankle said.
Maifest promised two days of German-American themed fun in the spirit of Sprankle’s Octoberfest. Proceeds from the event were to benefit the Isartaler Bavarian Club of Pittsburgh.
“There are parts of it that are similar (to Octoberfest),” Sprankle said. “But Maifest is a celebration of spring and the start of planting season.”
However, Sprankle described Sprankle Woods, which also serves as a farm, as “saturated” by the recent rains.
“If we bring a bunch of vehicles into it now, then it would definitely damage the agricultural purposes of the field,” Sprankle said.
In their statement, the organizers stress that the event has been postponed, not canceled, and that they do intend to reschedule it for a later date. Sprankle says it is unclear whether the rescheduled event will retain the name Maifest.
The next event scheduled for Sprankle Woods is West Fest, on June 20 and 21.
