Economic woes flavor Sauerkraut Festival

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By Chuck Jaffe SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

PHELPS, N.Y. | You know the economy is on everyone's mind when it becomes part of a T-shirt slogan at the annual Phelps Sauerkraut Festival in upstate New York.

"Economy in the toilet — everything is behind schedule — but the kraut is fine in 2009!"

In truth, most of the sauerkraut makers have left town.

But "the festival is a reminder of the good old days," said one member of the Lions Club, who was sitting at the organizing table. "Right now, it's kind of an escape. The economy is on everyone's mind. You can't escape it, so we felt you just have to laugh about it and deal with it and go forward."

In Phelps — population 1,909, about an hour east of Rochester — the festival is a slice of Americana; a 43-year-old celebration where a Boy Scout troop will help you find a parking space, the Babe Ruth League plays its all-star game next to the rides of the midway, and various local groups sell pies and sauerkraut fudge.

The Phelps Chamber of Commerce started the Sauerkraut Festival because the town was one of the largest points for kraut production in the world. That was in 1967. In 1969, the Sauerkraut Festival Committee took over the responsibility.

But the Silver Floss/Empire State Pickling plant on Eagle Street stopped canning by 1985, and the Seneca Sauerkraut factory was demolished in 1994. The American Legion Post 457 and the Phelps Fire Department helped with the organizing duties over the years as the sauerkraut makers left town, to the point where there's now more sauerkraut heritage than actual kraut in Phelps these days. The fair is a reminder of happier, more vital times for the community.

Touring the festival in early August, it became obvious talking to the locals that the economy was a lot more than a funny line on a T-shirt.

Vendors were happy to be there, glad to still be in business and have jobs, but could not ignore that their sales were down, whether they were hawking food or handmade necklaces or air-brushed T-shirts.

The event, according to several vendors, was an excuse for people to spend money, but not much money. And that's where things tie in well to the big picture.