Jan
29
CEC explores future role
The Community Events Commission met tonight. Village Manager Dave Fieldman was leading part two of an exercise designed so the CEC could figure out their mission moving forward, and did a fine job. Tell me again why in the past we spent good money on outsiders to moderate this kind of priority setting stuff? Exactly.
Rule #1: Whatever the event, it can’t incur any direct or indirect village costs. All other rules: there aren’t any.
The Facebook girls (5,907 followers and counting) and some teens were there. Well done! Past them, there were only six or seven others of us there, Mayor Sandack and Marge Earl included. I was surprised by the lack of attendance, but I’ll take it as a good sign that wheels are in motion.
The five main things the CEC will be looking for an event to do are:
- Improve the local economy.
- Provide entertainment
- Provide a sense of community.
- Increase awareness of Downers Grove to a wider audience.
- Provide community partnership opportunities for businesses and not-for-profits (think youth groups, church groups, scouts, guides and more).
There was some discussion that #3 and #5 needed to be higher on the list, and #2 could slide lower.
I had to leave then so I missed the teens and comments. Perhaps Ms. Earl, if she reads this, could add some light to the balance of the meeting. Or check the FB page via the above link.
Both the Arts Council and the Rotary have applications in for versions of a summer fest. It sounds like the two groups are not currently tracking as one event, so maybe two smaller events take the place of Heritage Fest? And there’s still a teen event possible.
Had to run and change a tire on Mrs. T’s ride. What a lousy night to get a flat, in Woodridge no less, although the cold spurred me on to a record time.
Hang on… your wife was bicycling in this weather? She’s way more devoted than I am.
(Seems to me the criterum meets all five of those criteria. Hmmm.)
Car. Which I will be following up on in a couple hours to try and get repaired or replaced.
Is this the same CEC that kind of disbanded durring the budget talks? Are the same citizen volunteers helping on this? Just wondering. Thanks.
Yep same group, Nuey (Council Commissioner Neustadt) still the liaison. Same volunteers, bigger job, more determination. I don’t know all their names but they should all get “atta boys” whenever anyone sees them.
Thanks MT, I knew who you meant by Nuey! LOL I wish them all the luck in the world. Good Luck!!
Mark as far as attendance, I would love to attend, but haven’t been able to make one yet – the timing just doesn’t seem to work for me – or hasn’t yet
This all sounds great! I did not officially let Geoff know I would be willing to help on this, but I think I did unofficially. It all sounds great and kudos to all involved!
Now, MT, I was there and I’m happy to share, but I was not taking notes like you were. So, with that in mind …
Fest 411:
Staff will be evaluating the two applications for the proposed summer fests and working out the details with the applicants. And there are LOTS of details, people. The two applications differ in size and scope, but neither are small undertakings.
Both applicants, provided they can comply with the village requirements, will have their proposals presented for review at the next CEC meeting in mid-February. The CEC will evaluate the proposals at that meeting and make a recommendation to the Village Council.
The Village Council has the final say on which proposal, IF ANY, gets the go-ahead to put on a fest. NOTHING IS GUARANTEED HERE, there could still be no fest. A fest is a huge undertaking and it is unclear at this time as to whether either of the applicants has the resources necessary to make this happen, alone or jointly.
The teens proposed a “Youth Fest” as either a stand alone event, or possibly as part of a larger event. They had a video proposal that the CEC will be viewing (no equipment available to view it last night.) I know they will be working with staff on the possibility of submitting an application. I don’t know that they have the financial backing to cover things like the required liability insurance and other costs associated with putting on a solo event.
We should have the village council’s decision on who, what, where & when by mid-March.
Oh, and one more thing, the CEC is a great bunch of dedicated folks, my thanks to them for all of their hard work.
Thanks for the update, Marge!
Heritage Fest is a huge part of DG.
I am yet again, Dazed and Confused, with how fast the DGC killed it.
So much lost for local charities and a great weekend.
Did anyone ask if some of the DG employees would volunteer their time?
If they can get a reasonable number of employees to take leadership roles in the program they can pull it off for this summer and then people will be trained for next year,
Go Nuey.
It still cost the village over $500,000 to put the fest on. The other key element is who knows how much of the Corporate Donations the Village will collect for HF? No Corporaton that I know of is handing out sponsorships when they are laying off employees.
Why can’t HF go away for one year while the economy gets back into a positive cycle? I am sure the way things are people attending HF are not going to be throwing tons of money out for rides, beer and food.
I know my family will eat at home before attending if HF does exits.