After the former Butler City Italian festival in August was canceled by promoters only to be replaced by locally organized events, the city is considering interest from another outside event promoter.
At their meeting Thursday night, Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy informed Council about conversations that he and Councilman Don Shearer had with an unnamed “reputable organizer” who has staged unspecified festivals in the region with a “track record of success”.
This individual approached the city with plans to bring an Italian festival to Butler for three days in May. This person agreed to all previous conditions and terms expressed by the city and even agreed to rebrand as a different event or pay a higher percentage of police and city employee overtime costs for the event than is currently required (25%).
Dandoy and Shearer also had conversations with local organizers of the Italian Crawl and Taste of Italy events which filled the void left by the Italian festival this year. Both groups expressed an interest in offering those activities again in 2025, likely around the same time as this year and with more time to plan and promote.
Council members said that they would like to allow the local efforts to move forward without competition from an outside entity at least for next year with the possibility of an outside festival returning in 2026.
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