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Stories |
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| Bloomin’ Art Fest faces an impasse on location |
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| By Baxter Smith |
Friday, July 24, 2009 |
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A scene from the 2008 Reisterstown Bloomin' ArtFest held at Frankling Middle School. The site of the festival is up in the air because of changes in a county school system rule. File photo.
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The school system’s enforcement of a rule governing profits from outsider activities on school properties has thrown a monkey wrench into planning for next spring’s Bloomin’ Art Fest in Reisterstown, according to organizers. But they hope to adjust matters to avoid abandoning the event.
The development comes as school officials attempt to gain better control over what had been school-by-school version of handling outsider activity like fairs, festivals and flea markets where private-vendor money is either pocketed by them or goes elsewhere and does not benefit public education.
“We partner with nonprofit organizations all the time,” said schools spokeswoman Kara E.B. Calder, who envisions no basic change in that policy.
However, because the matter had been in the hands of school principals standards varied around the district. Grumbling arose over school properties left littered and other concerns. Event safety was an issue, as well as wear and tear on school property, Calder said.
School system authorities decided to improve the situation by centralizing the processing of all outsider applications.
“The central office is taking it off principals” to better ensure that certificates of insurance and other requirements are met, Calder said. “The rule was being applied inconsistently.”
If an outside group wants to use a school facility, Calder said, it should understand that it is still welcome to submit an application. PTAs and others were being reminded of this, she added. “We can look at it on a case-by-case basis.”
But Calvin Reter, an organizer of the annual Bloomin’ Art Fest, said his group is now in a bind.
“We make our money by renting space to vendors,” he said. “Out of that we give some money to the school and some to the community.”
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For the past four years the Bloomin’ Art Fest has been at Franklin Middle School. The event attracts flower, arts and food vendors to Reisterstown’s Main Street where people browse booths, visit antique and other Main Street shops, and listen to musical entertainment.
“We’ve averaged 5,000 to 10,000 each year, with the exception of this past Saturday when it rained,” Reter said.
He added the festival arose as a response to the county executive’s desire to revitalize older communities and main street districts around Baltimore County.
Reisterstown community leaders believed that a springtime festival would be a nice bookend to compliment the fall Reisterstown Festival. Plus, it would provide a bonus for Main Street shop owners.
“For four years it’s been successful and now it is on the verge of being nonexistent unless we find some place on Main Street to hold it,” Reter said. “If we went to Hannah More it wouldn’t be the same.”
Reter said organizers have made their case with the county executive’s office, hoping to obtain permission to again use Franklin Middle School.
Plan B would be to hold the festival between Cockeys Mill Road and Glyndon Drive with Main Street and Reisterstown Road blocked off to vehicular traffic for the day.
Because Reisterstown Road is a state highway, Reter added that festival organizers plan to meet with a state highways department official to explore options.
“An alternative is to use the front lawns of the businesses,” Reter said. But organizers don’t see that as the best option.
Besides money from vendors, art festival activities are made possible through money from its program booklet and from business sponsorships.
Proceeds from the event benefit the community, according to Reter.
“We want to put benches on Main Street … and we might buy a bulletin board for the community to post activities,” he said. “We’re trying to make Main Street a better environment for the shopping public and for shopkeepers.”
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