01/11/2025
Thank you Nolensville for all the love and support! It was a great pleasure to present the Historic Nolensville Buttercup Festival to you all for 25 years! May God Bless you all from the Historic District Shops and the Small Business Owners who are so grateful to have been able to give back to the community through this amazing event!
{I sent the email below out to the vendors this morning.}
Hi Vendors,
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and we wish all of you a Very Happy New Year!
This is a hard email to write and I first wrote that I would be brief, but that did not actually happen. Sorry. If you would like to have more details, please feel free to email me [email protected]. Do not respond to the email because I will not be checking it very often.
The Historic Nolensville Buttercup Festival started 25 years ago. It was the work of The Bennetts and the business owners at the time. The town of Nolensville had NOTHING to do with its conception nor its continuation. The town of Nolensville has had NOTHING to do with any part of putting on the festival or its great success!
The festival was started to bring focus to the merchants in the Downtown Historic Area. Also known as the Village. The merchants have always been the ones who organized it and did all the work and planning. Over the years the Buttercup Committee has been made up of a few hard working and wonderful business owners.
The past 4 years or so the Committee members are:
Myself, Debbie Suttmiller - Chairman
Heather Bell, owner of the Nolensville Toy Shop - Treasurer
Charisse Ward, owner of The Diva Shoppe
Holli Olglesby, owner of The Village Antiques and Gifts
Rachel Boduch, Pageant Director and Graphic Design
Yes, the time, effort, and hard work has been done by these few people and they are absolutely the most wonderful women I have ever met.
Don't get me wrong, The Nolensville Police Department has gone above and beyond to work with us and provide their services as well as The Nolensville Fire Department. Nolensville Public Works has also provided lots of help. We are very grateful to each of them.
For several years Ben Loftis was our Music Director and the past couple of years it has been Lael Eccard and Jeremy Pharr. They have done an amazing job.
Audrey Noe of Designed Identities has graciously provided the map
and other graphics for the festival for several years.
Trash control was done by Kent Fehribach and his daughter with lots of help from His Nolo's Trashiest Trash Team. Also Evergreen Waste provided our trash cans. Great group of people!
The Boy Scout Troop 248 has volunteered and were invaluable in helping with setup and take down.
The Late Mr. and Mrs. Bennett and recently Evelyn's son, Paul Hyde, have graciously provided the use of their property.
Over the years there have been several others.
Most of the other Historic Nolensville area businesses have been so amazing in allowing us to use their property without any hesitation or restrictions.
And my wonderful, patient, caring, helpful husband, Rod, has put up with a lot from me during Buttercup time, and has helped more than anyone knows behind the scenes to support me and the committee.
We are very appreciative and thankful for all the love and support we have received over the years.
BUT, the festival has become something other than it was intended to be. Things have changed in the town and in the Historic District itself.
There are businesses that want more from the festival than they are willing to give in return. Gone are the days when all of them would willing and happily allow the festival to use their locations to help the festival fulfill its mission. Some property organizations simply refused to allow us to even rent their parking lots to help with the day's activities. Understand this is not the majority, must have always been there for the festival and understood its purpose. Most have been amazing! Lots have given support and help! Unfortunately a few can do a great deal of harm.
The true purpose of the Festival is much more than those few understand or want to accept.
The Festival is for the community and a time for the local businesses to thank the community for supporting them.
The Festival is for the young girls to become more confident and have some exposure to competing in a pageant.
The Festival is for families to have a fun time enjoying the Historic District and the local merchants along with the vendors and live music.
The Festival is for the surrounding communities to see what a wonderful place Nolensville is and meet some of the amazing residents and discover what the local businesses have to offer.
The Festival is for some local seniors to be able to apply for 2 scholarships a year and provide help with expenses.
The Festival is for handmade artisans and food truck owners to share their talents with the Nolensville community.
The festival has provided a way for several artisans to get a jumpstart for their businesses and become very successful in the process.
The Festival is a way for The Historic Nolensville Buttercup Committee to make substantial donations to local charities. The Committee does not keep any of the funds made - it is all used for the Evelyn Bennett Memorial Scholarships and donated to local charities!
The Buttercup Festival is not and never has been a selfish way to use its popularity to be a day all about the individual businesses in the district and what they can gain from it. But sadly over the past couple of years, that has been the case for some and therefore made it difficult for us to continue to honor the mission of The Buttercup Festival.
Along with this, the Town of Nolensville itself has failed to provide protection for the integrity of the Festival. They have allowed others to take advantage of the day that are outside of the Festival Limits.They let others set up their own vendors, food trucks, and sell merchandise causing direct competition to the loyal vendors of The Buttercup Festival. Over the past couple of years there has become more and more of this happening. The Committee works hard to make sure there is the right balance of each type of vendor and food truck so that all will be successful. That balance has been disrupted and will continue to get worse. This is very unfair to you as well as the local merchants.
I have made several pleas to the local officials. I met with the Mayor and other town officials.
They failed to get back with me after more than one request. I did recently hear from the Mayor, as she had a question about this year's date, so I asked about our request for help and was told there is nothing they can do. Also there has been another development I have recently learned about that will directly affect the success of you all as vendors in the future. I have cried, pleaded and tried to educate; but the Town of Nolensville apparently has other plans. It has become painfully obvious that they do not want to protect the Festival that helped make Nolensville a recognized town and provided exposure to what it has to offer. 25 years of continued growth that has become one of the biggest festivals in Williamson County. Also one with a very well thought of reputation. One that provided scholarships and charitable donations.
Due to the past few years of the town's lack of support and the recent development which has cemented the obvious lack of the town officials ever planning to help to protect the integrity and success of The Buttercup Festival. Along with a few of the Historic District Business owner's lack of community support. We have made the VERY HARD decision to end The Buttercup Festival after 25 years. It has been a wonderful run and has provided lots of joy and support to the town of Nolensville.
We feel it is best to stop now before things get too far away from our Mission and damage all the past work and success.
I am not totally sure what the town of Nolensville has planned for the future. But just know that there will NEVER be another Historic Nolensville Buttercup Festival or any Buttercup Festival in Nolensville.
We are so thankful for all your support over the years and wish you all well! Because of you, we were able to provide lots of joy and memories to the community, lots of encouragement to some amazing young girls through the pageant, financial support to some local high school seniors through scholarships and charitable donations for those in need.
Again, if you have any questions, please email me and I will share what I can. My email address is [email protected].
It has been a great pleasure to work with the members of the committee and all of you!
May God Bless you and your businesses!
On behalf of the Buttercup Festival Committee,
Chairman/Organizer
Debbie Suttmiller
