Village Board Deals Fatal Blow to Taste of Lombard

Online, March 19, 2010 (Newswire.com) - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Village Board Deals Fatal Blow to Taste of Lombard

Lombard, IL, USA March 19th, 2010- Last night, at the urging of first term Trustee Bill Ware the Village of Lombard Board of Trustees voted 4-2 vote to "suspend" the Taste of Lombard for 2010. And with that vote, the newest Trustees on the Board ended the 27 year community 4th of July tradition known as the Taste of Lombard.

Public participation included an impassioned plea from Art Frerichs, a 50 year resident of Lombard who believes that the Taste of Lombard is "needed even more in tough economic times," and other speakers in support of the Jaycees grant request, along with an email from residents, Ellen and Gerry Weiler, who live across the street from the park. The Weilers made the case that Lombard businesses benefit from "residents who buy flowers to spruce up their properties, purchase additional food to serve guests, and whose out of town guests stay in local hotels and shop at Yorktown [and other local businesses] during the festival."

Immediately thereafter, in a carefully crafted motion, Ware closed the door not only on Village funding for the Taste of Lombard, but to indeed suspend the event altogether for 2010. Even if alternate sources of funding could be secured, this motion would prohibit the Village from sanctioning the event, a pre-requisite for Park District approval.

Lively discussion followed the motion. Trustee Tross attempted to correct some of his fellow Trustees' misunderstanding and mis-readings of the grant proposal. Trustee Tross made it clear that the "trimming of the event" to which some Trustees objected was in response to the Village Board's previously stated need for a lower Grant request. He finished by eloquently describing the Taste of Lombard as a "quality of life issue for Lombardians, and called it an event to which they are entitled" and one that he would support to the end.

Trustee Greg Gron noted that in the past 3 days he had received more than 20 calls from constituents on the topic "none of which were negative," according to Gron. Trustee Gron stated that his vote to support the Taste of Lombard was representative of the stated desires of his constituents.

Village President Mueller made it clear to all in attendance that this was not, as those who favored the motion insisted, a question of funding. He stated this 3 separate times. Alternately nostalgic and pragmatic in his comments to the Board, Village President Mueller was consistently staunch in his support of both the Jaycee organization and the Taste of Lombard.

In the end, however, Trustees Bill Ware, Laura Fitzpatrick, Dana Moreau and Zachary Wilson, voted to suspend the 2010 Taste of Lombard.

Speculation about the reasons behind Ware's apparent lack of regard for both the Jaycees and the event was high among attendees. Whitney Cigmalia, who works for Inland Bank in Lombard was at the meeting to support the event that her employer had already signed up to sponsor. After learning that Trustee Ware's wife had been part of the "Taste of Lombard, Inc" group that had unsuccessfully tried to take the festival away from the Jaycees in 2006, she asked "so how can he vote on this? Isn't that a conflict of interest?" Other attendees echoed her concern.

Lynda Wilson, a Past Jaycee President and long-time Chair of the Community Organizations Manpower committee for the Taste said "just as we [the Jaycees] count on the income from this event to fulfill our mission, so do more than 30 other organizations who count on this income to meet their organizations' needs. The loss of the Taste of Lombard is going to put a sizable dent in the budgets of many of our community's organizations."

According to Chairman, Mike Hughes, "The Jaycees have had a great run with this event. And should funds be available in the future, there may be another festival held over the 4th of July in Lombard. But it will not be the same event." The reason for this is that the DuPage County Health Department enacted an ordinance that festivals at which food is sold must be held on hard surfaces. The Taste of Lombard was "grandfathered" in and allowed to continue in Madison Meadow. However, that "grandfathering" expires in the event that the festival is not held....even for one year. So, even if funding becomes available in the future, the event would have to be held in a parking lot or on the street.

Lombard Jaycees' President, Christine Wojdyla, a life-long Lombardian is deeply disappointed. "The Taste of Lombard is as much a part of Lombard as Lilacia Park. It brings us together and defines who we are as a community. Proceeds from the Taste have funded year-round activities for children, and charitable donations for those in the community who are in need. Not having a Taste of Lombard going forward will make Lombard a different community."

And so, after 27 years, last night's vote means that the Taste of Lombard will be little more than a pleasant memory of summer days spent with family, playing games, eating, enjoying entertainment and, of course, fireworks under the stars with 150,000 neighbors and friends.

Contact:
Tim Piper
Email: [email protected]
Ph: 331.454.1212
###