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Over the past several months, the Holly Area Chamber of Commerce has endured everything from minor implications to out-and-out negative comments regarding its lack of support for Holly festivals, specifically the Carry Nation and Dickens festivals. The time has come, I believe, for the record to be set straight.
Although I am a member of the Holly Village Council, and serve as president of the Holly Area Chamber of Commerce, the following are the facts as I personally recall them. I am speaking on my own behalf, not that of the council or chamber board.
Let me say again, because I have said it often, that I am very pleased that so many newcomers have come forward to pick up the torch and support our festivals and volunteer their time for fundraising and planning activities so that these festivals may continue on for the enjoyment of Holly area residents and visitors alike. There is, however, some history that explains why things are the way they are now -- history that these individuals appear not to be aware of. And just to make anyone reading this aware, no one has ever approached the Holly Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors with any specific requests to sponsor festivals. If they had, this is the information they would have received.
During the Dickens Festival of December 2003, for whatever reason, the committee and merchants failed to raise the necessary funds to pay for the actors. At that time, Kim Scherman was the Chamber’s executive director and chair for the Dickens Festival Committee. When it came time to pay the actors, the festival was short $11,000. Tom McKenney, who was Chamber president at the time, signed for a loan at The State Bank so that the actors could get paid and hence, the Chamber now had a debt to pay – a debt that took until 2009 to pay off.
For the 2004 Dickens Festival, the Dickens Committee was asked to find another organization to be its sponsor and provide the insurance. Since this was always a “merchant event” (as I was repeatedly told by the downtown merchants) the festival moved under the umbrella of the DDA. The Chamber was a struggling organization and the $11,000 it took responsibility for was a large strain on the organization.
Kim Scherman was also very involved with the Carry Nation Festival, making sure funds were raised for the queen and her court, taking them to other festivals, etc. When Kim left in 2007 none of the other Chamber members were willing/able to take this on to the extent that Kim did. Therefore, this also was moved under the wings of the DDA.
In 2004 the Chamber started the Sights, Sounds and Taste of Holly, which is its major annual fundraiser. Neither the Dickens Festival nor the Carry Nation Festival were ever fundraisers for the Chamber, yet it was always expected to fund and provide volunteers for the events.
Admittedly, there is still some bitterness among those Chamber members who worked hard to make sure that a debt that they had nothing to do with got paid off. The Chamber is still struggling to make it a successful organization, yet the hurtful remarks regarding “lack of support” continue.
In addition to what I just mentioned, insurance costs were another reason the Chamber declined sponsorship. Depending on the activities involved, insuring the event could be as much as $1,500 or more. If there was an accident or other unfortunate event during the festival, the Chamber would be responsible for defending a lawsuit. According to IRS code, the Chamber is a nonprofit defined as a 501(c)(6), not a 501(c)(3), which would allow for the application of grants for these types of events. Neither the Carry Nation nor Dickens Festival fall under this category.
In previous correspondence, both Janet Leslie (who also wrote about this in her Holly Express column recently) and Katy Hughes, have mentioned the different festivals around the state that Chambers sponsor, i.e. the Traverse City Cherry Festival and Posen Potato Festival. Though in past years, chambers of commerce may have been in charge of all the festivals, that is changing now as they don’t fall into the guidelines of IRS code.
The Posen Potato Festival, which Ms. Leslie references in her column, charges visitors for the events and activities that take place. Further, according to additional public information found online, the Chamber of Commerce in that community reported earnings of about $20,000 from that festival last year.
The Holly Area Chamber of Commerce membership is made up of successful individuals whose expertise covers a vast variety of areas. We are willing to share that expertise with anyone who asks. What we are not willing to do is continue to be the brunt of accusations and negative comments by individuals, who although well-meaning, did not do their homework before making public their uninformed opinions.
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It's also great to hear what kind of conditions our festivals would need to enlist the support of the Chamber. No one can really argue that a financially stable and profitable event is precisely the goal of everyone trying to put on our festivals.
I don't mean to imply that it is any one individual or organization that is placing blame. There needs to be much more community involvement to put on a successful and self-sustaining COMMUNITY festival. This could include the participation of the Chamber, the DDA, the EDTF, the local governing bodies (Village and Township) and all of the other groups like the Rotary Clubs, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the American Legion, the VFW, NOCFA, Holly Police, Holly Fire, Headwaters Trails, the Friends of the Library, the Holly Youth Assistance, the Detroit Railroad Club, The Girl Scouts, the Yesteryear Tractor Club, Band and Athletic Boosters for Holly Area Schools, the Kiwanis, a local Jaycee organization, the Holly Masons, local churches, local merchants and any other group or committee that I have overlooked. (I don't mean to imply that any of these groups haven't been willing to participate, just that a great festival would benefit from the participation of the majority)
Everyone remembers how great the festival once was. Try to recall who was involved behind each activity and event. The festival was a collaboration of all the great organizations our community had to offer, each bringing a particular activity or event to the festival under the orchestration of Ardath and a volunteer committee. It was utilized as a fundraising effort and a recruiting opportunity for the individual groups and the community as a whole.
It is great that each organization has its fundraisers and events. It is fantastic that each contributes to the community in such a positive way. I love golf scrambles, car washes, pancake breakfasts and canoe trips as much as the next person but these just aren't the collaboration of the best that our community has to offer like the Carry Nation Festival once was and could be again.
We shouldn't have one volunteer or a small committee begging for volunteers and participation. Likewise, the expectation shouldn't be on just the Chamber of Commerce or the Downtown Development Authority. Maybe the repeated requests for assistance by the planning committee didn't specify that it was looking for the involvement of groups as well as individual volunteers. Maybe statements made by previous directors and chairpersons left the planning committee under the assumption that certain organizations weren't in the business of planning festivals. Who knows...
What I do know is that if this community truly wants the festival revitalized and successful everyone will have to put their differences aside and roll up their sleeves. There is a year to bring everyone together and get the participation that is needed. Maybe we can share a greater respect for each other's opinions with a more open dialogue and a greater cohesion. At any rate the festival will never be what it once was without more involvement and interaction.
The first questions I would ask are, how did the 2003 Dickens Festival happen to fall so short on funds? Did a major sponsor drop out? Was a budget created that was unrealistic? Has the Chamber ever found it beneficial to loan the use of their non-profit status to a festival committee for the purchase of event insurance? If festivals were not fund-raisers for the Chamber in the past, why was that? Have other civic organizations in our community successfully raised funds during a festival event? Have multiple civic organizations been invited to sponsor various festival events, thus spreading out the cost as well as the opportunity to raise funds? Has any festival committee tried charging for events or selling wristbands for admission to several events, as so many successful festivals do?
Finally, the biggest question that needs to be asked is, “Does our community want to host an annual festival?” If so, it shouldn’t be impossible to find a way to get it done.
There is a myriad of issues that have blocked the committees attempts. Financing, sponsorships, participation, permits, approvals, the burden of bad reputation based on the recent past (or even of other festivals), etc. Throw into this a new committee leader every couple of years and you begin to see why it is an uphill battle.
There is a way to solve this though and it is involvement. The efforts of putting on a great festival can be spread out among the different groups if they choose to participate. The more groups, the larger the festival. An example of this is to look at all the different activity sponsors at our neighboring communities festivals.
Based on the accounts and stories I have heard from various people, my deduction is that the festival, and people's expectations of it, failed to adapt over the years. As times and conditions changed, it seems like people kept looking back at their visions of past festivals instead of looking forward at visions of future festivals. The various committees kept trying to recreate the glory of days past, only to lose a little bit more each year. I don't know if this is true, but I see that in a lot of issues in Holly--looking back at how things were instead of looking and moving forward towards what things could be, so I can believe it.
Although Carry Nation may not be "what it used to be", it doesn't have to die. It's a great concept for marketing and promotion and very unique to Holly, and I'd hate to see it lost in memories of bitterness. Perhaps all Carry Nation needs is some innovative and open-minded ideas and a bit of an evolution? Maybe instead of a crazy beer-soaked 3-day festival, maybe a "merger" with Sights, Sounds and Taste of Holly could serve to expand the Chamber's event and still save the historical theme ("Carry Nation Day"?).
It's always important to remember and consider the past, as long as we don't get stuck in it.
I have lots to say about Dickens - in fact, the DDA has a professionally prepared analysis of the event in their files - they paid me to do it. Above anything else - this event is uniquely positioned as a winter, outdoor, shopping and entertainment venue. Weather is the biggest factor, not only for attendees but more for volunteers and participants.
I'd suggest focusing on two things - SSTastes and Dickens - and doing them spectacularly!
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