Harvest Homecoming ends with a careful whisper.

By 3:30 p.m. today, it hadn't yet rained, and the sun was shining brightly on what trash remained in downtown New Albany that had not been borne by a gentle afternoon breeze eastward, to the banks of Silver Creek.

Not to mention the garbage.

But the Harvest Homecoming committee already had cancelled the game, presumably aware that since the Indiana State Fair stage collapse two years ago, every organization in America is a fluke occurrence away from learning that its insurance isn't adequate.

As in the comically frequent case of school closings when snow doesn't fall, we now routinely cancel anything and everything because weather conditions MIGHT get bad. Our forbearers who conquered the wilderness should be cringing in their graves.

Then again, there were very few lawsuits on the High Plains back then. I'm disgusted at the overall trend of timidity, but I cannot fault the festival for fearing the worst.

We shouldn't let today's cancellation detract from the numerous issues that the various Harvest Homecoming governing boards must begin discussing far more honestly and openly than they ever have been willing to do in the past. New Albany has a functioning downtown business district again, one with its own business model. Many more voices need to be heard.

Is Harvest Homecoming prepared to listen?