Tribune guest columnist considers Harvest Homecoming's downtown context.

With celebratory detritus strewn amid downtown’s food booths and porta-potties, and a final afternoon of rolled oysters still to come, today’s Tribune guest columnist offers a balanced analysis of Harvest Homecoming, pro and con:

ROBISON: Looking past the booths of Harvest, by Daniel Robison, Local Columnist.

Harvest Homecoming: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. New Albany puts on a good face for a weekend or two — and what a nice face it is — but the festival tends to gloss over some of the city’s bigger issues. It’s our city’s shining moment, when the rust is hidden by banners and booths so a good impression can be made on all that visit our city one time a year …

… But while thousands from the area descend on downtown New Albany, the location of the event could hardly be any less relevant to most attendees. Sure, Harvest Homecoming is in downtown New Albany, but it’s not of downtown New Albany. People stay in the streets, booths cover the businesses — little attention is paid to the locale. Since Harvest Homecoming fails to effectively tie-in to New Albany’s struggling downtown, why even hold it there at all? Tradition, sure. But the parking is better elsewhere ...

Coincidentally, NAC referenced several of these points in Friday’s posting:

Whither Harvest Homecoming?

Harvest Homecoming is deeply conservative institution, but the downtown cityscape is changing, and there will inevitably come a time when the festival is called upon to change with it.

Previously, we've discussed possible strategies for "alternative" Harvest Homecoming events to take place near downtown during the same time. These might involve more, shall we say, "contemporary" food, drink and entertainment options, with perhaps an element of social and political advocacy that reflects a broader plane than that currently espoused. Any such effort would have to come entirely from ourselves, because as guardians of New Albany's chosen "signature" annual event, Harvest Homecoming's organizers well understand the considerable resources the festival commands, and aren't likely to cede these any voluntarily time soon. That's why I persist in thinking that off-campus, privately inspired options are the best path; if these succeed, the pressure on Harvest Homecoming to reinvent itself will be irresistible.

There’ll be more to say about all this elsewhere, and conversations with Harvest Homecoming’s organizing committee probably will be commencing soon. With an election approaching, it should be obvious that any dialogue about such matters must include politicians, so in closing, here’s another piece of wisdom from Robison’s column:

And while the candidates glad hand and act like your best friend while struggling to remember your name, pressure them to talk about what surrounds them. Just because the façade of Harvest Homecoming hides most downtown doesn’t mean its not there. Let them know that.

Amen to that.