The future of Darienfest could be determined by the end of this month.
Options being considered include service groups such as the Lions Club taking over the event, a private entity running the festival or simply ending the festival after a 29-year run.
This year’s event, held Sept. 10 at Darien Community Park, was reduced from three days to one day when the city said it would need the Darien Chamber of Commerce to pay for rendered services, such as police overtime and barricades.
Darien City Council members debated Monday whether Darienfest is a community event that warrants city financial support or a fundraiser for the chamber, a private entity.
“Let’s be honest. This is a fundraiser,” Ald. Sylvia McIvor said. “The taxpayers from the city shouldn’t be charged for their fundraiser. If there are fees, we should pass them through and they should pay for them; and the same holds true for the park district.”
She said the chamber threw both the city and Darien Park District “under the bus” when it took to social media bemoaning “poor chamber, the city is charging us for this and the park district is charging us for that.”
Mayor Kathleen Weaver, who fought against requiring chamber payment for services, said the city deserved the criticism.
“The day after the Darienfest ends, the chamber starts to plan the next Darienfest,” Weaver said. “We didn’t tell them until March or April that they weren’t going to get funding that we’ve been giving them for a number of years. So we did throw them under the bus.”
She said the chamber has to sign multiple contracts for a three-day event and facing a possible loss of $16,000 in city in-kind services caused the organization to reduce the length of this year’s festival.
More Top Picks Vehicles
“I don’t think that a private entity that is fundraising should expect any funds from the city,” McIvor countered. “For them to base their decision to move forward with their fundraiser based on whether or not the taxpayers are going to contribute to their fundraiser seems ludicrous to me.”
She added that residents have annually paid a lot of money for an event that is a chamber fundraiser.
Weaver said that through social media posts and conversations it is clear that residents view Darienfest as a community event.
City treasurer Michael Coren, who like McIvor views the event as a fundraiser, said that the chamber made enough money last year to cover the costs of this year’s festival without getting financial support.
“They could have done it for three days this year just like they’ve done in the past and still made money,” Coren said. “They wouldn’t have made as much by reimbursing us for our out-of-pocket costs, but they still would have made money. So it was their decision to cut it back. They could have still done it for three days, but I think they were trying to make more money by cutting it back.”
Weaver asked if Coren thought the chamber wanted to gamble on having good weather for a one-day festival.
“They don’t have to gamble if we are throwing our money at it,” Coren said.
Weaver said the chamber board of directors will make a decision by the end of this month on whether to continue on with the event.
Ald. Joseph Marchese said there were long lines for food at this year’s event because there were only two food vendors, possibly because the chamber was charging a $750 fee for food tents.
“For that $750 fee, you got nothing. You got no electricity, no water, no tent, no tables, nothing,” said Marchese, a member of the Lions Club, which normally has a corn tent at the festival. “You had to bring everything in yourself.”
He said the Lions were being charged a reduced fee of $500 because of being a nonprofit and the needed supplies would have been another $400.
“The way we looked at it is if it rained on Saturday, we would be giving a lot of corn to the food pantries, which we accepted,” Marchese said, “but we would have had to sell 450 ears of corn at $2 apiece to make the $900 back. So we decided not to do it.”
Clare Bongiovanni, executive director of the chamber, was unavailable for comment on this year’s event and the festival’s future..
Kevin Beese is a freelance writer for Pioneer Press.