Mayor Says DarienFest was Never on the Chopping Block

Darien Mayor Kathleen Weaver wants to dispel any notion that this year’s DarienFest will be known as the event that almost wasn’t due to budget constraints.

“I don’t think there was ever any concern about it not happening,” she said of September’s event, sponsored by the Darien Chamber of Commerce. “It was more of a case of how much would the chamber be able to reimburse the city for all of our costs that we incur providing our services.”

Weaver said the city spends more than $20,000 annually to provide police protection for the event and for the closure of certain streets in and around the DarienFest grounds at .

“We want to be reimbursed as much as possible in this very tight economy,” she said.

“We certainly want to host DarienFest for the benefit of the residents but it can’t be at a loss in terms of what it costs city to host it,” said Ward Six Alderman Sylvia McIvor. “We’re not unlike other communities that have toned down on expenses.”

Officials eventually were able to come to an agreement, with the chamber guaranteeing a minimum reimbursement of $1,200.

“A lot of the municipalities in the surrounding areas are tightening their belt with the current economic crisis,” said Angelo Imbrogno, president of the Darien Chamber of Commerce. “Darien was doing the same.”

Initially, chamber officials were hesitant about taking on too much of a financial burden. Proceeds from the festival are used to help fund several community organizations including the Darien Lions Club, Safety Village, Kiwanis Club and Darien Woman’s Club.

“They rely on Darienfest as one of their major revenue sources,” Imbrogno said. “We didn’t want to put a financial strain on those organizations.”

He is happy chamber and city officials could “come up with a happy medium.”

“We as a chamber got together and looked at every possibility to make DarienFest work,”  Imbrogno said. “We came up a plan that was OK with the city and OK with us.”

The 24th annual festival will be held Sept. 9-11, at Darien Community Park, 71st St. and Clarendon Hills Road. The event will feature food, beverages, carnival rides, and musical entertainment.

“It’s such a good, family-oriented event,” Weaver said. "Children just can’t wait for DarienFest to come around because of the carnival rides that come with it. It’s a fun weekend for our kids little and big.”

Because Sept. 11 marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the plans to host a remembrance ceremony on that day as well as unveil the piece of steel salvaged from the 9/11 attack at the World Trade Center towers that . The time of the ceremony is still undecided.

“We want to get as many people out there as possible to view this,” Imbrogno said. “Where are you going to go in this area to see an actual piece from Ground Zero being unveiled on 9/11?”

For more information about DarienFest, visit the Darien Chamber of Commerce's website.