The Sassafras Tea Festival and Civil War Living History scheduled for April 25 and 26 in Vernon has been cancelled.
Sponsored by the Jennings County Historical Society, the Sassafras Tea Festival has been held as a celebration of spring every year since 1962.
Because early Hoosier Settlers used Sassafras Tea as a tonic to promote good health, for six decades the annual festival featured free Sassafras Tea for all visitors.
However, the tea is no match for the coronavirus.
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“It is unusual times,” said festival chairperson Chris Asher. “With the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic and mandated social distancing, which was extended to April 30, we had no choice but to cancel this year’s event.”
In recent decades, the Civil War Living History has become an important and popular part of the festival.
Local citizens and Civil War reenactors from across the country created a realistic Civil War era community throughout Vernon and re-enacted Civil War battles at the nearby Muscatatuck Park.
“The Civil War historians and first-person interpreters are scheduled a year in advance for reenactments in Indiana and other states. We couldn’t hold the event at a later date because their schedules are already set for 2020,” Asher said.
Though the festival’s Civil War re-enactments were free and open to the public, the Jennings County Historical Society did sell food during the festivals to raise funds to help operate their museum and other educational projects.
Through the years, the festival became famous for vintage Hoosier food and homemade pies prepared by local volunteers.
The festival became the largest fund raiser for the historical society.
“Cancelling this event is a huge deficit to our operating budget but there is no other alternative at this time,” explained Historical Society President Brad Bender. “We are all in this together and our priority right now is to follow the mandate and stay healthy until the pandemic passes.”
