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Fredonia's Red White and Blues festival is happening, with village officials approving it Tuesday -- and denying that it was ever in jeopardy.
The Board of Trustees tabled approval of the festival, set for this Friday and Saturday, last week. Mayor Michael Ferguson declared that unless Festivals Fredonia followed proper protocol in filling out information forms, "we cannot approve" it to go ahead.
Ferguson was much more conciliatory Tuesday, beginning a trustees workshop with a clear statement of support for the festival.
"We want to make something crystal clear," he said. "At no time, despite what you may see, was there a threat to cancel the Red White and Blues festival. There's just adjustments that need to be made, things that need to be followed. … Once again, never was it mentioned about canceling the festival. If you are planning a festival, go to our website. There are questions and answers, there is a form that needs to be filled out. You can always contact us if you need to know all the things that need to be done."
The mayor added: "Things have been changed in the last year and people are adjusting to it. That's all it was." The village passed a new law governing vendors.
A couple minutes after Ferguson's statements, Trustee Ben Brauchler motioned to approve the festival. A brief discussion centered on street and parking lot closures associated with the festival.
Trustee Paul Wandel said the "three major things" we discussed -- picnic tables, trash barrels and street closures, and the use of village employees to handle them -- were satisfied to his satisfaction.
"The reason why these things have become important is exactly one of the things that the district attorney talked about last week ( justifying use of Flock Safety cameras) and I have talked about many times," Ferguson said. "We do not have the size of the staffs that we used to have. DPW is down a number of people. Police are definitely down a number of people ... as is the fire department. It's not necessarily that we don't want to do those things, it's the number of people that we have to do those things and still maintain police and fire protection."
He added that "Streets have been closed in the past that were unnecessary to close for lengths of time."
The trustees voted 4-0 to approve Red White and Blues, with Trustee Tim Mulholland not at the workshop meeting.
Ferguson opened the workshop with comments on the affair, and Trustee LeeAnn Lazarony closed it with some of her own.
"By tabling it, I never meant for it to blow up" into any possibility of closing it, she said.
Lazarony mused about the importance of government officials watching their words. She also thanked Festivals Fredonia for their assistance and understanding.