The Cedar River in Cedar Falls is receding, which is good news for the organizers of the annual Sturgis Falls Celebration in Cedar Falls that’s scheduled to begin Thursday.
The Cedar River crested at more than six feet above flood stage on Sunday and has been falling since. Sturgis Falls Celebration President Jay Stoddard says there won’t any changes made to the festival as long as the water level continues to drop.
“It can rain here a little bit, no big deal, but it’s up north that affects us, but the water’s dropping like crazy,” Stoddard says.
Gateway Park in Cedar Falls is the main staging area for the event and on Monday it was underwater.
“The park still has got water all over it,” Stoddard says. “But the water probably by Wednesday afternoon or Wednesday evening will be down and you’ll just see muddy grass. We will mitigate that with a little secret we’ve got, plus wood chips and, you know, the show goes on.”
That little secret? Landscaping cloth. All other venues for the event are dry.
(Reporting by Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls)