YORK COUNTY, Pa. — What started as a magical weekend became a nightmare for vendors at the Enchanted Fairy Festival.
“Out of my 25 years’ experience, this is the worst I have ever seen it,” said Christopher Opresko with Black Dragon Iron & Glass Works.
A storm left a trail of destruction in Springettsbury Park.
Director of Parks and Recreation Brandy Shope says cleanup began as early as 3 a.m. on Sunday.
“It took out every vendor tent here except for one, so over 100 vendors lost their tents and a lot of their valuables,” Shope said.
The cost of damages is not yet known. Some vendors believe they’ve already lost thousands of dollars in inventory.
“We’re probably looking at an upwards of $20- to $25,000,” Opresko said.
Many tents were mangled beyond repair. Some people’s inventory was almost completely washed away.
“We usually make $1,000 or more at this event in donations, like from our donation-based sales for our nonprofit. We were hoping to use that money for our community center, so this kind of a bummer that we don’t have the support anymore,” said Leann Firestone with Neurodiverse Network.
Firestone manages a nonprofit that provides resources to people with brain differences or invisible disabilities across Central Pennsylvania
Some vendors do have insurance, but they say it’ll take time before they truly recover.
“I’ve been a veteran on this circuit for 20 years, and every time something goes wrong, the vendors all come together to get whoever was affected up and running fast,” said Heather Siple with Once Again Bears.
Cleanup is expected to continue for a few days. Despite the setbacks, many vendors plan to bring their magic back next year.
“A lot of the vendors said, ‘thank goodness that this what not happening during the actual event itself’ because it would have been devastating… it would have been devastating,” Opresko said.