CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — The most immediate challenge facing the Clarion Chamber of Business and Industry was to dry everything out after the 10-day Autumn Leaf Festival finished on Sunday.
There is no doubt that rain and cold weather had an impact of some days of the Festival this year, and crowds were sometimes lower than expected, but Chamber officials did see some successes and will evaluate the events in the next few weeks to make improvements for next year.
“For the most part. the weather unfortunately was not our friend this year as it was last year,” said Chamber Executive Director Tracy Becker. “Right now we’re trying to get everything dried off in the office here before I put things away, and it doesn’t get mildew and things like that. We’re going to be starting our wrap up meetings with the different committees in the next week or two.”
“I know in talking with the US Army (this year’s Title Sponsor), they were extremely pleased. We’ll be sitting down with the various groups talking with them and seeing how we can improve the events for next year.”
Some of the numbers were down a bit, but on some days like the opening weekend, the weather was ideal. The Kid’s Parade had to be rescheduled from Tuesday night to Thursday due to rain, but the change may have helped because there were many more people in town that day. Wednesday was a little chilly, but people still came out for the annual fire truck rides and hymn sing and Karaoke night.
“Friday morning we had 28 no shows for Crafter’s Day, but we still had over 330 crafters here,” said Becker. “We woke up Saturday morning, and it was pouring down rain. I received a number of calls asking if were going to postpone the parade, but I couldn’t really postpone it because there was a university football game at 2 p.m., and I couldn’t do it on Sunday because we had the tractor show. We went with the parade, and we had about 30 units that didn’t show up, but there were 120 units for the parade.”
Some questioned if the Chamber was downsizing the amusement rides near the Clarion County Courthouse, but that was more because a new amusement company was in charge of the carnival rides and some booths.
“The amusement company we had this year was a new company,” said Becker. “The company we had before, Swank’s Steel City Show, retired in December of last year. We looked for another amusement company, and that was a big task. Trying to find a company that we could see where they played before, see their credentials, and talk to other people was a challenge, and we also needed a company that could work with our dates.”
“Some of the companies are already starting to go south in September and early October. We’re finding that contracting a group that is still north is a problem. We never realized that. For many years, we had J&J Amusements and then Swank’s Steel City Shows. Swank’s was from Apollo, and at least they were still in Pennsylvania.”
The Chamber ended up with Midway Rides of Utica, NY, but because they were only able to visit Clarion once before the festival started, they underestimated the available space for rides. The company is already talking about three or four additional rides that could be brought for next year.
“We explained to Midway that we will be sending out RFPs soon to start looking at next year and see what options are out there,” said Becker. “The rides were probably not what people expected, and we felt there were some additional spaces that could be utilized and they also realize that, but they were not able to see the area prior to getting here.”
While the number of “local” food vendors remained the same this year (Knights of Columbus, Kiwanis, and Fowler’s Taffy), out of town vendors continued to offer their traditional food. Fowlers added Amish Doughnuts to their stand after another vendor pulled out.
ALF money leaves town?
A common question facing the Chamber and ALF every year is why does all of the money leave town?
Becker disputes that most of the money leaves town because of the expenses that are then paid to local companies.
“It takes a lot of money to put the festival on,” said Becker. “A couple of new vendors that we brought in this year thought the fees were kind of high, but the time you pay for the Porta Johns, pay for water, electric, gray water dumping, retail licenses to the Borough, pay for the electrician to be on call for the week, it adds up. We’re paying money to the Borough and a lot of our members because Advance Disposal does the garbage pickup, Bill’s Service does the Porta Johns and grey water disposal, and I would say that one eighth of the vendors that come in on Friday for Crafters Day live within Clarion County. Visitors are coming in from all over. The vendors also work with Clarion Fruit Company to get some of their products locally, Clarion Beverage to buy ice, and some of the vendors stay in local hotels for the entire week.”
“I wouldn’t want to say all of the money goes out of Clarion, and that it is pretty even across the board.”
