Canal Winchester City Council approves $30K for Labor Day Festival
The centennial celebration of Canal Winchester’s Labor Day Festival is getting a financial boost from City Council.
Council voted unanimously May 2 to provide this year’s festival – scheduled for Sept. 3-5 – with $30,000 after festival committee President Carolyn Ebert expressed concerns that “key sponsors” couldn’t support the celebration.
The contribution approved by council will come from the city’s bed-tax fund.
Money from the transient-occupancy tax-grant program – its more formal name – helps fund projects that will "enhance Canal Winchester for its residents and visitors," according to city guidelines.
City Finance Director Amanda Jackson said the bed tax fund had $225,000 as of the end of March.
“I’m a big fan of Labor Day (festival), and we should give them some money and help this city have its 100th celebration in style,” Councilman Patrick Shea said.
The cost to put on the three-day event typically approaches $80,000, said Ebert, the wife of Mayor Mike Ebert.
Carolyn Ebert explained that the festival usually has a balance of $45,000 at the beginning of each year. However, those funds were spent on last year’s one-day, free Hometown Festival, which replaced the Labor Day Festival because of ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
“Everybody wanted something and they wanted everything to be free, which we did – provided everything and all the events and activities,” she told council during its April 18 work session. “So, that ate up a good portion of what we usually have as a carryover.”
Billed as Ohio’s “largest and longest-running” Labor Day celebration, the Canal Winchester festival began in 1920 as a small gathering called the Fall Festival. It now attracts nearly 40,000 visitors, according to organizers.
The year’s festival will feature musical performances by Uncle Kracker and Epic Eagles, a parade, car show, carnival rides, ice cream social, animals from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and more.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Canal Winchester City Council approves $30K for Labor Day Festival
