The Marshall County Blueberry Festival Committee met Monday evening in a regularly scheduled meeting.
It was announced that the festival lost about $100,000 on the Frankie Ballard and Montgomery Gentry concert.
The executive committee also briefed the full board on the state of the negotiations with the City of Plymouth for a new contract to use the Plymouth Park system for the festival. The current contract ends December 31, 2014. The first proposal by the city was rejected by the executive committee who briefed the board on what was in the proposal. The negotiations are now back in the hands of the lawyers.
There was some hopeful news on that front, however. The carnival, All Star Amusements has requested an assurance that the festival will live up to the terms of their two year contract which runs through the 2015 festival to hold that event at Centennial Park.
The Board was faced with making assurances when they have no contract with the city, or telling the carnival that they would have to wait for an answer. For the first time there was discussion in front of the whole board about contingency plans. While no vote was taken, there was strong sentiment that the festival not be moved out of Marshall County. The whole board thought that it would not be possible to move the festival in one year to any venue inside the county. Some of the members of the planning committee expressed their belief that the festival could be moved to an unnamed location inside the county but the majority of the board did not agree.
The Blueberry Festival Board voted unanimously to assure the carnival that the festival would be in Centennial Park in Plymouth for the 2015 festival.
Jim Kunze Correspondent
