After a one-year hiatus, the Route 66 Festival in Edwardsville, Ill., will return in 2010, reports the Edwardsville Intelligencer.
Edwardsville and nearby Glen Carbon decided this year to combine forces, along with coinciding an event with Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville’s Homecoming, for a Fall Fest in early October.
However, the story makes it clear that poor weather conditions — plus a lack of communication between the chamber of commerce and the city — made Fall Fest a less-than-successful one:
“The city staff did not realize the chamber elected to abandon the June event to do an event in the fall,” Dickmann said. “We were led to believe for a period of time … the chamber would do the same thing in October it had done in June.”
Dickmann said by the time the city found out it needed to plan the events, it was too late in the game to plan as large an event as the Route 66 Festival.
A lack of shuttle services and mechanical problems with inflatable attractions for children also hampered the event.
It seems the city now simply wishes to go back to organizing an event it knows — the Route 66 Festival in June at City Park. And I suspect the city now will try to communicate more regularly with the chamber and vice versa.
Once again lack of open communication was a major factor in not having a successful event. It is NOT only the Chamber and/or the city’s fault, where was the ‘grass roots’ folks? There has to be a partnership, where all parties are equal in all things which includes work and taking credit or blame.
The best and biggest events built a solid foundation of partners, supporters and funders, as well as volunteers.
We are happy to hear they will be doing their event again in 2010 and wish them much success.