Annual event raises money for local organizations

By Ashley Luthans

An annual St. Joseph festival, AugustFest, began on Saturday Aug. 17, bringing fun for the whole family.

The two-day event includes live music, bouncy houses, vendors, food, a petting zoo and more.

As for the live music, rock/metal was the focus of Saturday, with Sunday including an array of genres.

Cheyenne Tuttle, the coordinator of AugustFest, explained that the festival is a fundraiser for different organizations.

“AugustFest is a fundraiser festival, so we choose a different organization every year,” Tuttle said. “So this year we chose the Patee House Museum…They are privately owned, so they don’t get any extra funding or anything like that. So, this extra money will help a long way. Even if it’s just a few hundred dollars.”

Tuttle said that there were over 40 vendors signed up for the event.

One of the vendors, Richie King, was at the event for his organization, Comedy Vets. As a professional comedian, King shared that he hopes to make people laugh and feel a little bit better.

King went on to share the purpose of Comedy Vets, adding that he attended AugustFest in order to spread awareness.

“Well, one of our main focuses in Comedy Vets is we raise money for the 22-a-day,” King said. “We don’t like 22-a-day. That’s how many veterans commit suicide in our country…Everybody has a purpose. Big, small, little, tall, everybody has a purpose. And, we don’t want all the same people, life would be boring if everybody was the same. So, we try to do our best to, well do podcasts and everything. Try to do our best to reassure people that there is gonna be a better tomorrow.”