I will be attending this weekends festival sponsored by Faraones on Front Street. I have done so in the last few years and have enjoyed the food (the roasted corn is quite good). But the female members of my family won't go back. They don't like the outdoor beer drinking and what comes with it.
Up till now, I have accepted the sponsor's sales pitch: a great cultural opportunity for Plainfield that brings people to town to see what a good place our downtown is for shopping and having a good time. But with numerous complaints coming from retail store merchants and residents, the Council has decided to evaluate the future of downtown festivals.
Heeding the residents and downtown merchant complaints I voted against this weekends festival. But the Council majority ruled that this year the show will go on. The best I could do was offer two amendments to the festival resolution. One, to ban sales of alcoholic beverages, was shot down. The other, to close the festival at 10 pm instead of 11 pm and to end the music and 9 pm instead of 10 pm, was supported by my colleagues.
I aim to use my blog to provide information on the Faraones festival by way of photographs. Here are today's, showing that 1) our parking lot is used the day before the festival begins and 2) contrary to claims that attendees will see what is good about downtown, we have some serious (but fixable)eyesores that reinforce the reputation Plainfield currently has.
I have been told that the approvals for the rides must be given prior to the festival opening:
Parking lot 8 needs a lot of maintenance and code enforcement:
These scenes will be in plain sight during the festival. I expect the incoming administration will take aggressive action.
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