The Elkhart Rhapsody Arts and Music Festival is underway for its 43rd year. The event features food, musical performances, and more for festival goers.
People from all over are coming to check out the Elkhart rhapsody arts and music festival.
Whether you’re looking for something cooked, smothered, or sung, you’ll find it at this year’s arts and music festival. With more than 20 food vendors and 60 different pop-up shops, the Elkhart tradition is an unofficial signal of the start of summer.
“Something that’s new for us this year is we’ve got a really enhanced kids area, we’ve got a couple of crafts that are going on, the whole stage of entertainment Saturday tomorrow from 10 to 4, a bunch of different kids entertainment acts that are coming
With more than 30 thousand people projected to attend, the two-day celebration that has a big impact on the local economy.
It’s also important to Madison Jackson, a senior at Northridge high school. She’s selling cookies at the event, with the hopes of raising enough money to take her sister to Italy and Greece this summer.
“We started selling them in late 2021, and then we went to the Elkhart farmers market, and decided that we should become a vendor there, and then we became good friends with Sherry, and Sherry then allowed us to be vendors at Rhapsody,” said Madison Jackson, Northridge High School Senior.
Of course, every festival is synonymous with big stands offering good eats.
Lauren Conway-Janssen runs Lauren’s hot apple dumplings. She says this is her first event of the summer and it’s crucial to start-off on the right foot.
“It’s really important just because we have a lot of expenses, I haven’t worked since October, so it’s great to be making money again, and also, you want to work out the kinks and everything, first event of the year, so you want to make sure things are running smoothly,” said Lauren Conway-Janssen, Manager of Lauren’s Hot Apple Dumplings.
Conway-Janssen has been returning to the festival for more than a decade and says her fellow merchants have become like family.
“I think it’s the people, and all the other vendors are really good friends of mine, so it’s great to come back every year and see everybody. The customers, everyone is super welcoming and everything,” said Conway-Janssen.
The festival runs through Saturday night, with the entertainment officially ending at 10 p.m.
