From Staff Reports

WAYNESVILLE — The Haywood Chamber of Commerce recently announced that it will move forward with plans for its annual apple festival, which recently was renamed 2020 Apple Harvest Daze.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 17 along a lengthy stretch of Waynesville’s Main Street, which will be closed for the festivity. Also closed will be adjoining side streets, including Depot, Miller and Church streets.

For safety purposes, there will be no live entertainment at this year’s festival. However, there will be a variety of locally produced apples and apple-related products available for purchase.

Plans for the event were firmed up after the Waynesville Board of Aldermen on Sept. 8 approved a permit — submitted by Haywood Chamber of Commerce President CeCe Hipps — for the event.

“Modifications and changes to ensure the safety of vendors, merchants, visitors and staff have been implemented and will be monitored throughout the day,” a chamber press release noted. “We are committed to keeping Haywood County safe.”

The release added, “The name has been changed to Apple Harvest Daze, as it will not have the same elements of a festival and is on a much smaller scale. We hope to return to our normal festival activities in 2021.”

The release also stated that the safety guidelines for the festival “are fluid and may change as local and state guidelines change.”

Regarding the changes for this year’s festival, the Smoky Mountain News noted, “The event — rated as one of the 10 best fall festivals in North Carolina — usually draws upwards of 40,000 people. This year, it will be limited to 100 vendors or less. Vendors, staff, volunteers and attendees will wear masks, and surface sanitation will be frequent.”

 The chamber’s release pointed out that “we will have stanchions down the middle of the street and arrows allowing for one-way traffic.

“We will have signage in and around Main Street and the downtown area of Waynesville promoting state guidelines (the 3 W’s Wear, Wait and Wash).

“Artists and vendors will be able to display their work from three open sides of their 10 (foot) x 12 (foot) tent. This will allow the public to view artist work without stepping into the booth. No open booths will be allowed.

“Vendor space will be located on the sides of the street in parking spaces with spacing between each booth. (Previous years the booths were located down the center of the street in quad formation).

  “Older and more vulnerable patrons will be encouraged to shop” from 9 to 11 a.m. and after 3 p.m.

Masks will be distributed as needed, and food vendors from outside the county will not be permitted.

The SMN reported that “attendance will be monitored to ensure that crowd densities do not become so great as to imperil proper 6-foot social distancing.”

 Peak hours will be monitored to ensure that the density of the crowd does not get to high for proper 6 feet social distancing.

The following parking locations were suggested in the chamber’s apple festival release:

• Parking Garage – 143 Branner Avenue (behind the courthouse).

• Municipal Parking Lot – Corner of Montgomery and Miller streets.

• Wall Street – Running parallel to Main Street.

• Any designated on-street parking. Attendees are asked not to move barricades, as violators will be ticketed and/or towed.