The Harvest Homecoming Festival Foundation strikes me as good stewardship, especially since the fest doesn't have its own TIF areas to suck dry.
My own love-hate relationship with Harvest Homecoming is a matter of public record and I'd be a fool to disavow it, but at the same time considerable progress has been made during recent years toward the shared objective of adapting the festival to the emergence of business concentration and residency downtown.
I feel better about it now, and that's what communication is all about. There's been far more of it recently from Harvest Homecoming, although the same cannot be said about Jeff Gahan's forever hermetic City Hall.
Change out the mayor and just think of the possibilities. Voting for David White in the Democratic primary is an excellent place to begin the cleansing. It also bears noting that Harvest Homecoming's physical "booth days" footprint lies entirely within the 3rd council district.
Just imagine a council person in the 3rd who actually knows what indie business ownership involves. Indies don't get tenure, you know.
Foundation ensures Harvest Homecoming for decades to come, by Chris Morris (Unlimited Tom May Only $9.99)
For 51 years the Harvest Homecoming Festival has grown to one of the most popular, and largest in the state. There is nothing like it and each October, thousands come to enjoy the festivities.
Over the span of two weeks people are entertained by a host of activities from a parade to kick off the festival, to the popular booth days which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown New Albany.
But the festival is only as good as the weather because almost all the activities are outside. A few years of bad weather can not only disappoint the thousands of visitors, but also put a squeeze on the festival's operating budget.
That is why the Harvest Homecoming Festival Foundation was established.
The foundation, administered by the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, will ensure yearly interest income so bad weather or lost sponsorships won't threaten the festival.
"The festival success is dependent on weather," said David White, who served as Harvest Homecoming's chairman of the board in 2017 and 2018. "Harvest Homecoming has been blessed with good weather and leadership and has been able to put on a quality family event. But all it takes is a few bad years and we would have to maybe cut a few events if our revenue drops ... "
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