In 2021, people gathered at the community of Sligo for the 20th and final Sligofest, a celebration of the community of Sligo’s Irish heritage. Every year, people gathered from miles around, at least one from as far as Ireland itself, for the annual celebration. The meal was all-you-can-eat corned beef and cabbage meal, with Reuben sandwiches and a variety of deserts. Craft vendors set up shop selling anything from quail eggs to quilts to walking sticks, and a live string band played gospel folk tunes in the chapel while people enjoyed the meal in the meeting hall next door.
The 2021 organizers who had been running the festival for many years decided they wanted to step away from the helm of the project, making the 2021 festival Sligo’s last.
Or, so it seemed. Sligo local E.J. Schulke said he and his wife Ashley took the project under their wing because they saw how much the community missed the annual gathering. Sligofest is set to return to the Sligo United Methodist Church on March 18.
“With COVID and everything, it got shut down, and the people that were putting it on kind of got to the point where they wanted to get out of it,” said Schulke. “Me and my wife have been part of the community for (a long time.) I’ve been here almost 30 years now. We’re trying to see if we can make a go of it.”
According to Schulke, the workload to organize the event has made a large impact on their lives, but that the community has been very receptive.
“Everyone’s been really helpful about it. But we’re still having to do the brunt of the work. Before, you had two people doing it that were retired. Now, we’ve got two people doing it that are working full time, and my wife goes to school full time after that as well, so it’s been a lot,” said Schulke. “We’re trying to make a go of it, and see how it plays out, and see how much work it really is for us to try to keep it going. That’s going to be the biggest thing.”
Schulke said the event will remain similar to the previous festivals that the community knew and loved.
“We’ve got a couple of new vendors, a couple of the old vendors decided to retire, so we have been scoping around. We’ve got, I think, four or five new vendors. We’ve got the nesting box from Sullivan coming in, and we’ve got a lady from Licking, and we’ve got a couple of other woodworking stations coming in this year,” said Schulke. “Not much of anything has changed.”
The corned beef and cabbage meal, with Rueben sandwiches, countless deserts, and the live music are all making a return, according to Schulke.
“That will still be there, none of that’s changed,” he said.
Schulke says Sligofest has been a part of his life for many years. He saw the hole left in the community by the event’s absence and sought to reignite the festival.
“I’ve lived down here in Sligo since ‘92, and ever since they started it, I’ve pretty well been a part of it. I knew there were a bunch of people missing it that first year it didn’t come back, and so we just took it upon ourselves to try to see if we can’t keep it going.”
The event will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 18, with the meal served from noon until 4 p.m. Adults are $10 per person, and kids 5-12 are $4. Kids 4 and under eat free. The Schulkes ask musicians and vendors who are interested in participating in the festival to contact Sligo, MO United Methodist Church and Community on Facebook.
