2009 brings end of an era

This year’s Prairie Port Festival is not only the 25th celebration, but also the final festival.

The Prairie Port Committee voted Wednesday evening to make this year’s event be the last.

The issue first arose a couple of years ago when Jim Phillips, festival chair, announced he would not be involved any longer after the 25th festival and they began to look for a successor.

“No one stepped forward,” said Becky Wolfe, committee member.

She pointed out that it kept getting harder to find volunteers and with the loss of the inmate labor that created further issues.

The issue came up again at the committee’s meeting last week, when the issue of whether to end the festival and if to make a big announcement ended in a tie vote 4-4.

The committee wanted to split the motion into two, with the first being for this to be the last festival.

Dana Korkki, committee member, said he thought most communities only had one big festival, not several events each year like El Dorado does. He suggested the El Dorado organizations get together to have one large event for the community in future years. That way volunteers wouldn’t be spread so thin and businesses wouldn’t be asked for so many sponsorships.

One example of this is the Frontier Western Celebration which is held about a month before Prairie Port.

“When two festivals are back to back you are vying for the same volunteers, the same button outlets,” Wolfe said. “It’s got to affect both of them.”

She said they had seen a change in those things the last three years.

Committee member Craig Lorenson said if there was enough support to continue the event, he would be interested in continuing to help with it.

Phillips took the vote, with nine of the 16 present voting in favor of this being the last festival.
“It’s the easiest job I’ve ever had because I am surrounded by such great people on the committee,” Phillips said, but it was time for him to step down.

He said he was one of the original seven who started the festival 25 years ago, when he was 40 years old, and now it was time to retire.

“No one stepped forward to do it,” he said. “It’s just time for somebody else to take over.”

Their goal when Prairie Port was started was to create a weekend event that would bring children back home to visit and bring the community together.

It did that over the years, with many people scheduling their family reunions during Prairie Port.
“The community swells,” Phillips said.

Phillips has enjoyed it over the years.

“My greatest enjoyment is seeing committees come together and grow,” he said.

He said his big thing was coming in at night and helping set things up for the next day. He then enjoyed sitting back and watching everyone have a good time.

He also said they have had loyal sponsors, including some that have been with them the entire 25 years.

The second motion was to make a positive announcement about the decision and make it into a big celebration for the final year.

The committee felt it would be a good way to thank sponsors and volunteers and make it into a big celebration, which also passed unanimously.

The end of Prairie Port brought up some questions from other entities.

David Ellis, with El Dorado Inc. and the Chamber, asked the committee if they would consider donating the equipment Prairie Port has to the community. His concern was the number of festivals and entities who use the equipment.

Phillips said they had talked about having an auction for the items if they ended Prairie Port. Then if they dissolved the Prairie Port Festival, Inc., they could create Prairie Port Festival Charitable Trust. The money from the auction could go into the trust and they could help fund other events through the year. None of this has been decided yet.

Darryl Whitney, committee member, said they needed to see how this year went first and if they have bills to pay still, and if they do, the auction would be necessary for that.

Wolfe pointed out they also have to finish paying for their building.

Lindsay Baines, Main Street director, also asked about other festivals taking over some of the events. She was told they could do that, but they would have to find the sponsors for the events and arrange for all the work to be done.

More on the dissolving of Prairie Port and the equipment will be decided after the festival.