It soon may be final -- no community festival in Stillwater this summer.
The City Council, tired of controversy, is expected to declare a moratorium later this month on new proposals to replace the debt-ridden Lumberjack Days. The decision would stall a frantic campaign by two local businessmen to muster support for a "family-friendly" festival called Stillwater River Days.
A resolution to be voted on at the March 20 council meeting would drive a final nail into the Lumberjack Days coffin, burying a longtime festival known for its big-name "golden oldies" concerts but also for drunken behavior and persistent debt.
"I have no doubt it will pass," said City Administrator Larry Hansen.
Four City Council members present at last week's meeting said as much, but they didn't take formal action on a proposal by Bob Hart and Jesse Kurtz to start an alternative festival this summer. Hart and Kurtz, of Valley Promotions Inc., told council members they have been working to start a community festival that would more closely resemble the city's "Play Days" of long ago than the troubled Lumberjack Days.
"We want to bring this back down to the way it was," said Hart, an Oak Park Heights business consultant. He and Kurtz, a former sheriff's detective sergeant who owns a Stillwater security business, said they have a festival ready to go but need city permits to proceed.
"We have talked to a lot of people who want to get involved in this," Hart told the City Council, arguing that it would be a mistake for Stillwater to suspend a summer festival this year. "We're not in this as a career. We're here to protect a longstanding Stillwater tradition."
But Mayor Ken Harycki said the city needed time to review public preferences for a summer festival because opinions vary. "Truthfully, for six years we've been caught in a crossfire up here between all entities and groups," he said. "I'm not in a rush to jump into this."
