Editorial: Attendance indicates festival's importance

Hopefully Saturday’s attendance surge at the Daffodil Festival wasn’t simply mourners paying their last respects to a dying community tradition.

Instead, we’d like to think the community is acknowledging that everyone must get involved with the festival to prevent it from disappearing forever. That could explain why twice as many people in Tacoma and nearly three times as many in Orting showed up compared to previous years. Puyallup and Sumner’s number stayed pretty much the same, with 30,000 and between 12,000 and 15,000 visitors respectively, but this was the first time in almost two decades that the parade hasn’t been hosted on the same weekend as The Spring Fair. Separating the two events could have proven detrimental to the valley’s turnout.

It’s a great response from a community whose city council pondered whether or not the festival is still significant. Thirty thousand people sends a pretty clear message that the festival is something residents care about. That’s pretty tough to ignore.

But, the community needs to remember their commitment to the Daffodil Festival last weekend in the coming year when volunteers are needed to house and build the community float. That’s a vital element to keeping the festival a success.