Us
Print
E-mail
Rate
Alligator Festival postponed until 2009
 |
| Ian Tyson subdues an 8-foot, 200-pound American alligator during 2007’s Alligator Fest. Organizers announced Friday they have postponed the event to make it a bigger and better event in 2009. FILE PHOTO |
Organizers put event on hiatus to make overall improvements.
By TONY BRITT
tbritt@lakecityreporter.com
Alligator Fest, Lake City’s second-largest festival, will take a one-year hiatus and won’t be held until 2009 — probably in a new location — festival organizers announced Friday as they began promoting 2009 Alligator Fest.
Tony Buzzella, an Alligator Festival committee member, said the festival will return next year as an expanded part of the 150th anniversary celebration of Lake City.
“We’ll be able to further honor the memory of Halpatter Tustenuggee by having a spectacular 2009 Alligator Fest, and in order to do that we will be tapping our benefactors,” Buzzella said. “We’ll be asking the entire community to support the festival in a bigger way than ever before.”
The 2009 Alligator Fest will have a projected $50,000 budget — double the amount of the last festival which was the largest ever.
Buzzella said organizers decided to pass up the opportunity
of hosting the festival this fall so they could meet the $50,000 budget goal for next year.
“We prefer to be cost efficient and it’s incumbent for us to pull in our horns and focus on a spectacular 2009 — especially given the current economic situation,” he said. “It’s in our best interest to show the community that we can be fiscally responsible.”
Five years ago the festival was revised, after a two-year hiatus, and reached its peak in popularity last year.
“We’ve taken Margaret Wuest’s vision of a festival that would encompass the entire
community to the highest level to this point, but we now feel we’re ready to move to the next level,” Buzzella said.
Wuest said she’s confident that next year’s festival will be the biggest ever.
“Halpatter Tustenuggee was the first person in the Lake City area and we really want to do more with this because he was the first there,” Wuest said, noting that he organized the City of Lake City before it was known as the City of Lake City.
Lake City Community College has hosted the Alligator Fest for the past three years, but festival organizers are looking for a permanent site.
Organizers want to have a site, a Native American Village, which could remain open throughout the year and serve as a revenue source for the festival.
Harvey Campbell, who works with the Downtown Action Committee, said there are a few location options which are being discussed.
“Short term, I think there is reason to want to see the festival returned to downtown,” Campbell said. “Financially it would be beneficial to Alligator Fest because the DAC could provide the umbrella for liability insurance.”
Buzzella said the festival is about the town’s heritage and local residents, and its information needs to be passed to the next generation.
“It is growing and we must manage the growth in an organized and sequential manner,” Buzzella said. “That’s why we decided to focus on 2009. It’s going to take more time to produce what we’re after and we just decided to take a step back and take the time to do it the right way.”
“The 150th anniversary celebration is a time to stop and begin a new approach,” added Jeannie Wilkes, who has served as an emcee during past Alligator festivals. “It took some time to find the dream and now it’s time to design it.”
Tony Buzzella, an Alligator Festival committee member, said the festival will return next year as an expanded part of the 150th anniversary celebration of Lake City.
“We’ll be able to further honor the memory of Halpatter Tustenuggee by having a spectacular 2009 Alligator Fest, and in order to do that we will be tapping our benefactors,” Buzzella said. “We’ll be asking the entire community to support the festival in a bigger way than ever before.”
The 2009 Alligator Fest will have a projected $50,000 budget — double the amount of the last festival which was the largest ever.
Buzzella said organizers decided to pass up the opportunity
of hosting the festival this fall so they could meet the $50,000 budget goal for next year.
“We prefer to be cost efficient and it’s incumbent for us to pull in our horns and focus on a spectacular 2009 — especially given the current economic situation,” he said. “It’s in our best interest to show the community that we can be fiscally responsible.”
Five years ago the festival was revised, after a two-year hiatus, and reached its peak in popularity last year.
“We’ve taken Margaret Wuest’s vision of a festival that would encompass the entire
community to the highest level to this point, but we now feel we’re ready to move to the next level,” Buzzella said.
Wuest said she’s confident that next year’s festival will be the biggest ever.
“Halpatter Tustenuggee was the first person in the Lake City area and we really want to do more with this because he was the first there,” Wuest said, noting that he organized the City of Lake City before it was known as the City of Lake City.
Lake City Community College has hosted the Alligator Fest for the past three years, but festival organizers are looking for a permanent site.
Organizers want to have a site, a Native American Village, which could remain open throughout the year and serve as a revenue source for the festival.
Harvey Campbell, who works with the Downtown Action Committee, said there are a few location options which are being discussed.
“Short term, I think there is reason to want to see the festival returned to downtown,” Campbell said. “Financially it would be beneficial to Alligator Fest because the DAC could provide the umbrella for liability insurance.”
Buzzella said the festival is about the town’s heritage and local residents, and its information needs to be passed to the next generation.
“It is growing and we must manage the growth in an organized and sequential manner,” Buzzella said. “That’s why we decided to focus on 2009. It’s going to take more time to produce what we’re after and we just decided to take a step back and take the time to do it the right way.”
“The 150th anniversary celebration is a time to stop and begin a new approach,” added Jeannie Wilkes, who has served as an emcee during past Alligator festivals. “It took some time to find the dream and now it’s time to design it.”
 |
||
| FDOT outlines roadwork plans for U.S. Highway 441 |
