The Eden Corn Festival kicked off on Friday for its 60th year, just three weeks after an EF-2 tornado tore through the town.
Rich Ventry, the Eden town supervisor, says four houses are condemned and many other property owners are still dealing with major damage.
However, the festival is still on as scheduled. In fact, they’re promoting QR codes that people can scan if they would like to donate to help the victims of the tornado to rebuild.
Festival organizers say the festival generates about $350,000 to the local economy each year.
Even with the rainy weather, this year is looking like it could be just as successful.
On top of that, it serves as a bit of a morale booster and break from the tornado damage.
“The corn festival just kind of brings a little bit of normalcy back to everyone here,” said Ventry. “I mean, the people that are affected still have the work to be done, but here is a chance for all the people in Eden or Western New York to come and be able to help and donate to the people that were affected.“
There are a number of other nonprofits as well as the volunteer fire department who benefit from people spending their time and money at the highly-anticipated festival.