75 Years of Fall Fest

This Oct. 15-17, Sister Bay will celebrate its 75th Fall Festival. The big party was postponed for a year because of COVID-19, which means that residents and visitors will be even more fired up to commemorate the annual end-of-season bash.

The festival is a huge moneymaker for nonprofits and local businesses, some of which make enough during the weekend to carry them through the slow winter months. It’s also a party. A chance to dance to nonstop live music. To stuff your face with brats, curds and amazing street food, then wash it all down with beers and bloodies.

But it’s also a homecoming: a weekend when families and friends reunite with everyone else’s family and friends between the curbs and under the tents. When we all lift a glass to the community we’re fortunate enough to call home.

So here’s to 75 years of Fall Fest and the community that makes it what it is!75Years of Fall Fest

THEN AND NOW The street scene has evolved over the years, eventually getting so busy that Highway 42 was completely cleared of cars to make way for the crowds. Photo at left courtesy of the Sister Bay Advancement Association. Photo at right by Myles Dannhausen Jr. in 2019.

By the Numbers

35,000

Estimated number of people who visit Sister Bay for at least one day of the festival

2,000

Number of people who rode Fall Fest shuttles in Sister Bay and Baileys Harbor in 2019

4,500

Number of ping-pong balls used for the ping-pong-ball drop

1.234 million

Gallons of water used by the Sister Bay water plant during Fall Fest weekend 2019 (up from 834,000 in 2018)

2,600

Gallons of waste pumped from portajohns during Fall Fest 2019