SILVER CREEK — Beginning Friday, Sept. 16 and going until Sunday, Sept. 18, Silver Creek’s Grape Festival will run once again for their 55th celebration, though this year, it will look very different from years past.

In a Facebook post made on the Festival of Grapes page, the event announcement was made, stating that the normal arts and crafts show will be held in the upper Village Square, but the biggest difference this year will be the lack of amusement rides and games at the event, and instead will have some other form of entertainment for children.

“There are other arrangements being made to offer some children’s events that will be held in the lower ball park on the center of the track encircling that area,” the Facebook post stated.

A follow-up Facebook post was made Wednesday, due to several members of the community expressing their disappointment over games and rides not being at this year’s Grape Festival. The second Facebook post included an explanation as to why these things have been cut from the Festival.

“First, at the end of last year’s festival the vendor who provided the rides notified us that they would not be returning. For the past six months we tried to secure another ride vendor. However, all of the companies were either booked or unable to commit to the festival.”

The post also noted that, as the Festival of Grapes is a non-profit 501c3, the board is made up of entirely volunteer members, and lack of additional volunteers for the events was cited as another reason festival events have downsized.

“The board has not been able to recruit and secure enough volunteers over the past several years. We have tried to balance the board with members who can be a short-term volunteer or a long-term volunteer,” the Facebook post stated. “With limited volunteer resources it is difficult to maintain previous operations. We need additional volunteers who can routinely commit to the board to learn the inner workings and to be decision makers for our future.”

The event will still have food vendors, the wine and beer tent, and other events and community groups in attendance, including enhancing the concert lineup to feature music every night.

“We have taken on the task of enlarging our entertainment line-up to include free concerts on all 3 days of our festival, as well as continuing to hold a favorite crowd-pleaser which is our Friday night opening feature and long-standing tradition of our grape stomping event, once again co-sponsored by Silver Creek AMVETS,” as said in the first Facebook post.

The free concerts will feature a band Friday night, following the annual grape stomping event, while Saturday will have two bands, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening, and Sunday will have another free concert in the afternoon. All of these concerts will take place in front of the youth recreation building.

The follow-up post noted this was a difficult decision to make, and the Festival of Grapes Board thanked attendees and residents for their understanding, and still wished for everyone to have a pleasant weekend when the Festival does occur.