Last-Minute DarienFest Irks Officials

Darien IL

03 August, 2021

1:13 PM

Description

DARIEN, IL — The Darien City Council on Monday approved an agreement with DarienFest organizers for police services during the annual event, set for Aug. 12 to Aug. 15. The event is now nine days away. The reason for the relatively late approval is one heard a lot these days — the pandemic. At least two aldermen said they believed the agreement was approved at the last minute. They also said they had been hearing things from constituents about DarienFest before they had received information from the Darien Chamber of Commerce, the event's organizer. "I would like to have gotten a heads up," Alderwoman Mary Sullivan said. "Even though it is not a city-sponsored event, people think of it as one." Sullivan spoke after Alderman Joe Kenny asked whether anyone else had a problem with the late planning for DarienFest. He compared approving the police services agreement to "putting the cart before the horse." Kenny praised the "yeoman's work" of April Padalik, the chamber's executive director, saying he wouldn't want her job for "all the tea in China." But he said it would have been best to send the police agreement to the City Council sooner, not the week before the event. He said he didn't want to set a precedent where groups could approach the city with such issues at the last minute. "I don't like the way this went down," Kenny said. Mayor Joseph Marchese said the chamber needed to know first whether it could even hold the event, given pandemic restrictions. He said the chamber is following the typical procedure in that it decides to hold an event and then seeks the city's approval of police services. Padalik said organizers were unsure DarienFest would come about because of the coronavirus. "We didn't know whether we were going to have it or not," she said. "That's why it was kind of rushed." The council approved the police services agreement for DarienFest. The event is set to include a carnival, bands, food and drinks, among other things, in the parking lot at Darien Plaza, 8109 S. Cass Ave. DarienFest, which used to be held at Darien Community Park, has been held annually since 1987. It was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.