Holley will take a year to reorganize June Fest

Village wants to bring festival back in 2017

File photos by Tom Rivers – Members of the combined Holley-Kendall marching band participate in the parade in this photo from June 7, 2014.

HOLLEY – Mayor John Kenney says the annual June Fest community celebration has been postponed for this year, but should be back in 2017.

“We are going to start planning for next year,” he told Orleans Hub this week.

The mayor said funds will be included in the village budget and he expects a committee will be formed to help organize the event. He said he also expects to contact Town of Murray officials to see if they have an interest in being involved.

Clarendon residents Dr. Marge Krizan and John Krizan approached the Holley Village Board in February and offered to form an ad hoc committee to organize a 2016 June Fest, as the continuation of the event appeared to be in jeopardy. Dr. Krizan told Orleans Hub that she presented a scaled-back version of the event to the Village Board at its March 8 meeting, but the ad hoc committee did not receive the “blessing” of the village to continue.

In a letter to the Village Board dated March 21, Dr. Krizan wrote that the festival could not go forward this year without approval and sponsorship of the Village Board; sufficient information and materials from prior June Fest celebrations; and the credibility of a Village of Holley endorsement of their plan.

Fireworks at the soccer field capped last year’s festival, when there was a full schedule of events from the morning to the night.

“We believe it would be better to produce a quality … event for all concerned as opposed to producing an event which would not satisfy the Board based on their comments at the March 8, 2016 board meeting,” she wrote.

Additionally in her letter, Dr. Krizan offered the assistance of the ad hoc committee to bring the 2017 June Fest to fruition.

“We like to do things the right way,” she told Orleans Hub. “We had to have credibility … (A 2016 scaled-back June Fest) can’t be done the right way without the full backing of the Board. We tried. We learned another thing about local government.”

Dr. Krizan said Village Board members did not want to make a decision on moving ahead with June Fest this year without vendors and donations in place, but she explained that the ad hoc committee had difficulty accessing information on the event from previous years, which would have helped them seek out and secure vendors and donations.

“We tried, but from the start there was obstacle upon obstacle,” she said. “No one knew where the paperwork was.”

Additionally, Dr. Krizan said board members indicated they would prefer to have a full slate of events included if June Fest were held this year.

The ad hoc committee had proposed an abbreviated event.