Maybe not this year, but in years to come, the city’s budget constraints will be affecting your ability to eat corn dogs and kettle corn (and other festival foods which may or may not contain corn) in downtown Eau Claire. Downtown EC’s two major fests – Summerfest and the International Fall Festival – are produced by Downtown Eau Claire, Inc. (DECI), a  non-profit organization affiliated with the city. And DECI is feeling the current budget crunch just like rest of the city’s departments. The crunch, coupled with a shrinking pool of event sponsors, means compromises will eventually need to be made.

One option is canceling one or both festivals all together – a last resort but totally possible. Another option is moving the festivals to a park (like Phoenix or Owen) where you can enclose the festivities and charge admission, putting the proceeds towards future festivals and projects. This is far from ideal, though. An admission cost would no doubt cut down on attendance. And since the festivals basically take over South Barstow Street, closing it down for foot traffic, shop owners would lose business from people discovering their stores (read WQOW for more on this). For my money, this is a huge reason to have these festivals in the first place. They’re like an introduction to downtown.

Perhaps most importantly, Barstow Street is just a way cooler setting for these things. Walking down the street, through the carnival crowd, flanked by vendors and downtown buildings creates a far more energetic atmosphere. Unfortunately, “what’s cool” may be edged out by “what’s doable.” There are other festivals held in the downtown area – like Taste of Eau Claire and V1’s Chalkfest – but none of them use Barstow Street. It’d be a lose for sure.

Just last night, Downtown Eau Claire Inc. held a brainstorming session about festivals. Hopefully it’s the start of some good solutions. At any rate, big changes aren’t likely to occur until 2011.