A vendor sets up homemade jellies during the 2023 Ohio River Sternwheel Festival. This year’s festival will not have craft vendors. (File photo)

The Ohio River Sternwheel Festival announced Monday that it will not have craft vendors at this year’s festival.

“The Ohio River Sternwheel Festival 2024 will be taking a step back to review and enhance our craft vendor area, to ensure we provide the best experience possible for all attendees,” a Monday festival Facebook post said. “As part of this process, we have decided to take a break from hosting craft vendors during the 2024 Festival. This pause will allow us to carefully evaluate and explore new options that will enhance the overall festival experience.

According to Ohio Sternwheel Festival Director Cheri Seevers, there was an issue last year with a committee person who was not able to fulfill her obligations in relation to craft vendors. She said they did the best they could last year and so this year they decided to take a step back.

“We are not unhappy with our crafts vendors we had,” Seevers said.

She said the decision not to have craft vendors this year “had more to do with committee time and just taking another look.”

According to Seevers, committee members, who are all volunteers, couldn’t put all the time and effort into the craft area this year because the treasurer has had health issues.

“It was just a whole line of events that occurred … that took our focus and energy away,” Seevers said. “We had bigger fish to fry.”

She said this is just the way things turned out this year.

According to Seevers the festival committee had started receiving inquiries from people about getting applications to be a craft vendor, so they decided to put the post on Facebook,.

Seevers said she is “99% sure” there will be craft vendors at next year’s festival.

She said there will still be business vendors at this year’s festival. She said they are a business that has not risen to the level of a corporate sponsor that promotes their business by doing things such as handing out items like drink koozies with their business name.

Seevers said she is sure that there are some craft vendors that are sad or even upset by the decision not to have craft vendors this year.

“I feel really bad about that,” she said.

Seevers suggested attendees of the festival this year that want to see crafts can look at the “wonderful” stores on Front Street and in downtown Marietta that sell crafts and handmade goods.

According to Seevers, the festival committee is working on ways to use the space that would have been used by craft vendors this year.

“We’re not just ignoring the space that we have.” Seevers said.

She said they are going to use the space this year to add to the car show and for additional parking, especially handicapped parking.