VillageFest canceled due to ‘expected rain’

The City of Palm Springs canceled VillageFest Thursday night because of expected rain.

“The City of Palm Springs would like to alert the community that VillageFest, the City’s weekly street fair held every Thursday night along Palm Canyon Drive between Baristo and Amado Roads, will be cancelled tonight due to expected rain throughout the evening,” read the release issued by the city.

The weekly event was canceled last Thursday due to heavy rains and flooding. That announcement was issued at around 9:00 a.m.

“We looked at the forecast and it said 30 percent [chance of rain], so we hoped for the best,” said Colleen Powers, visiting from Washington.

Many visitors come to Palm Springs hoping to enjoy VillageFest, like Sid Bloom, visiting from Masachusetts. “That’s why we came. We always come Thursday nights. I think it’s [VillageFest] a great thing.”

Some people are even extending their vacation and holing out hope the street fair will continue as planned next week.

“I’m staying! That’s it, I’m staying, I’m staying, I’m staying!,” said Judy Slink, from Minesota.

Some businesses in down town say they’ve been losing out on some extra foot traffic.

“It affects us a little bit, but we still have a lot of locals that come in,” said Mary Schuld, an associate at Mario’s of Palm Springs.

Meanwhile, Caltrans is working on getting roads back open for commuters. Indian Canyon was opened for the first time since last week’s storm. Crews had to dig through five feet of snow to clear some parts of the road.

Further down the road, in Desert Hot Springs, the rain isn’t stopping set-up for Kind Festival.

“The rain has really helped compact the sand and soil so it’s made it easier to do the setup,” said Jason Benavidez, a producer for Kind Music Festival. He says more than 5,000 people are expected to attend Saturday’s pop-up festival and is expecting good weather.