Canal Winchester - August 22nd, 2021

PAGE 8 - MESSENGER - August 22, 2021
www.columbusmessenger.com
CW’s Hometown Day celebration set for Sept. 4
Traditional Labor Day
weekend festival hopes
to return next year
By Linda Dillman
Staff Writer
Labor Day is always a cause for celebration
in Canal Winchester, but with COVID-
19 concerns still on the mind of festival
organizers, the annual three-day festival
shifts this year to a smaller, single day, endof-summer
special occasion on Sept. 4.
Hometown Day features music, midway
food, children’s inflatables, and the introduction
of the Canal Winchester Queen and
her court at noon on a main stage in the
Stradley Park greenspace, followed by a
Lemonade Social from 12:30-2:30 p.m. in
the historic Interurban Station.
The celebration kicks off at 10:30 a.m.
with a parade that will follow the traditional
Labor Day parade route.
The Canal Winchester Steel Band plays
from 12:30-2:30 p.m. in the Stradley Park
gazebo, followed by Franke and Ranke featuring
Frank Harrison, Sr. from 4:30-6:30
p.m.
Mr. E entertains children at the main
stage from 2:30-4:40 p.m. and The Usual
Suspects and Repeat Offenders wind up
Hometown Day from 7-10 p.m. The weekly
Farmer’s Market takes place at the historical
complex at North High and Oak streets
from 9 a.m. to noon where an old-fashioned
ice cream social will be held from 1-3 p.m.
Entertainment includes an art wall and
face painting from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the
Stradley greenspace and Joy Unspeakable,
a living statue, performs throughout the festival
from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Why the one-day event? Mayor Mike
Ebert said the idea was in the back of the of
the minds of the Labor Day Festival Committee
as far back as January, when COVID
issues were not improving and seemed to be
getting worse.
“The annual Labor Day Festival draws
between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors over the
three-day weekend, with kids rides, a car
show, beer tent and nearly continuous stage
entertainment, all of which bring people in
close proximity with each other,” said Ebert.
“That is something we wanted to avoid as
we do not want the festival to potentially become
a super spreader of COVID to our community.
We thought limiting the number of
days and events within a festival would help
curb that.”
In addition to not wanting to be the cause
of a pandemic outbreak, Ebert said availability
of entertainment also played a big
part in the decision. He said that most
“We wanted to do something
for our hometown, hence the
name Hometown Day, just to
give people a fun activity away
from home.”
- Mayor Mike Ebert
widely known musicians were not committing
to anything in the first four months of
the year for 2021 concerts.
Those who did were demanding a 50 percent
non-refundable deposit, money the
Labor Day committee did not think was a
smart move and making it less affordable
for future festivals.
“Additionally, several musicians we were
considering for 2021 had canceled concerts
in 2020 at various locations and they decided
to fulfill 2020 commitments this year,
making it even more difficult to get the entertainers
we were looking for,” said Ebert.
“After a lot of discussion and heartbreak for
us as organizers, it became apparent what
we had to do–once again cancel the 100th
Labor Day Festival, the one festival we have
all been working so hard towards for the
last several years. It is as disheartening to
us as organizers as it is to those who come
to enjoy our festivals, yet we still receive
criticism for making the right call.”
In opting for a single day event, the
Labor Day Committee felt it had to do something
in Canal Winchester for residents,
even it was a smaller gathering.
“We wanted to do something for our
hometown, hence the name Hometown Day,
just to give people a fun activity away from
home,” said Ebert.
According to Ebert, as small as the event
is, it still requires a great deal of money and
planning–from street closures, obtaining
food vendors, parade participants, entertainment,
to kid’s activities and much more.
He said food vendors often shy away from
one-day events for multi-day events where
they can make more money.
“We decided to not charge any vendor for
space for this event, in order to get them
here for our attendees,” Ebert said. “The
committee will be losing out on several thousand
dollars by doing this, but we wanted to
make it enjoyable for those looking for some
of their favorite Labor Day foods. In response
to this, most, if not all of our Labor
Day committee members have pitched in financially
with donations to help make up
for the loss of vendor fees. It’s not always
about the work we do to make events happen,
but the things we go above and beyond
on that are often unspoken, and we do it
every year.”
Eviction support
The Franklin County Commissioners approved
two contracts to support families facing
eviction due to the ongoing pandemic.
The Franklin County Municipal Court
recently said that it would not enforce a new
CDC eviction moratorium, and many families
are in danger of losing their homes due
to the pandemic and economy. The new supports
include $624,000 in additional funding
to the Legal Aid Society of Columbus and
$550,000 for Community Mediation Services
of Central Ohio.
“The effects of this pandemic will be felt
for many years to come,” said board of commissioners
president Kevin Boyce. “It would
be a grave mistake to allow families who
lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic
also lose their homes, and would only prolong
our community’s recovery.”
The commissioners have long supported
the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, and this
contract adds to the county’s annual funding
amount. The additional money will
allow Legal Aid to hire three new full-time
attorneys to work with families that are
struggling to pay the rent. These new
lawyers can assure that our residents’ legal
rights are protected, represent them in the
court system, and negotiate with lawyers
and landlords. As many as 1,500 low-income
families are expected to be helped with this
new funding over the coming year.
“Many of our neighbors are living on the
edge, hurt by the pandemic through no fault
of their own. We want to help every struggling
tenant to work out a way to pay their
rent so that they can stay in their homes
and so that their landlords are also made
whole,” said commissioner John O’Grady
Community Mediation Services of Central
Ohio (CMS) is also a long-time partner
which the commissioners annually fund in
order to provide tenant/landlord mediation
and other eviction prevention services. The
increased funding will allow CMS to serve
an additional 600 families. Since beginning
to work with Franklin County eviction
clients, CMS has seen that 90 percent are
able to avoid eviction or successfully relocate
to alternate stable housing.
“There are many families who are barely
surviving this pandemic, some being only
one flat tire away from being unhoused,”
said commissioner Erica Crawley. “With
that, we know that families and especially
children are unable to thrive and do well in
school without a safe and stable place to
live. We are pleased to be able to answer the
call to help our neighbors find ways to stay
in their homes with legal representation
and mediation services.”
Each year, the commissioners allocate
about $23.5 million to affordable housing
and other housing supports. During the
pandemic, they’ve increased that investment
by more than $8 million to help vulnerable
families stay in their homes, and
resources are still available via the commissioners’
Emergency Rental Assistance Program
and the Impact Hope Fund.