New Venue for the Verona Cattail Festival
The Verona Festival Association is excited to announce a new venue for the Verona Festival. For the first 14 years, the Verona Festival was held at McMullen Park, however a steady growth of entertainment, craftspeople and attending crowds made a move to a larger venue essential.
In 2010, the Verona Cattail Festival moved to the Lions Club Centre on Verona Sand Road in Verona. This venue offers many significant improvements over McMullen Park. The Lions Club grounds are 50% larger than McMullen Park, allowing the Festival Committee to book more entertainment, to bring in additional unique vendors and craftspeople, and to add enhanced rest areas, making a visit to the Festival even more enjoyable.
The enhanced nighttime lighting of the Lions Club allows increased enjoyment of evening entertainment and activities. Handicapped access and facilities are markedly improved in the new venue. The fully equipped indoor kitchen and canteen allows a wider selection of food, including a more health conscious menu.
The Lions Club site also offers greater protection from inclement weather. The new outdoor pavilion and the Lions Club Hall allow some activities to continue that would otherwise have had to be cancelled in the old venue.
The famous Red Green Duct Tape Boat Races and the Soapbox Derby are still be held in their traditional locations at McMullen Beach and the Carleton Street hill, respectively. The popular Free Methodist Church Pancake Breakfast and the Trinity United Church Fish Fry are held in the same locations as previous years. Free shuttle service is provided to all these events.
This satellite image (our thanks to Google Maps!) highlights both the old and the new locations. The relative size difference is obvious! Don't be fooled by the apparent distance -- notice the 500 ft scale in the bottom left corner. The move is only about 1km or 0.5 miles!
