Showing posts with label Mum Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mum Festival. Show all posts
September 8, 2014
Mum Parade signups end Friday
September 16, 2008
Mum Parade route change this year
Because of road construction on East Road and Wolcott Street, the parade route this year will be to head south on North Main St., then proceed onto Church Street, take a left on South Street, take another left on East Street and then turn back toward downtown on Memorial Boulevard. It ends on Main Street.
The parade begins at 1:30 on Sunday, Sept. 28. Outgoing chamber honcho John Leone is the parade marshal and Olympic silver medalist Michelle Guerette is the honorary parade marshal.
For more information on the parade and whole Mum Festival, check out its website here.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
May 15, 2008
Many groups face "very significant" cuts in new budget plan
City Councilor Craig Minor sent this along a few minutes ago:
It's not realistic to whack the TEAM budget by over 40% and not expect repercussions. The Mum Festival committee, the Veterans Council, and the Forestville Village Association should be prepared for a very significant reduction in their funding next year due to the Mayor's latest budget cuts. We met with the Mayor yesterday and offered a budget that would have reduced funding for the Mum Parade, the Memorial Day Parade, and the North Main Street festival by "only" 20%, but it was rejected. The Mayor said that these are difficult financial times, and established organizations like the Mum Festival and the Veterans Council are going to have to step up their fundraising efforts.
Update:
Mayor Art Ward sent this along to someone who was worried about the Mum Festival getting its funding cut:
Anyone who has even hinted that the Mum Festival or any other TEAM sponsored activity has been predetermined to being completely cut in funding is doing you a disservice.
My statement was that everything, regardless of the activity, is subject to budgetary scrutiny as a result of the economic hardships that are being dealt with on both the governmental and personal taxpayer level and that funding will be prioritized after that review effort.
It is going to be impossible to present a responsible budget if everyone is going to advocate that only their funding is exempt from the process.
I ask that the Mum Festival, and all other venues which are requesting city dollars, allow us to use the opportunity to function in accordance with the responsibility which has been entrusted to us through the election process.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
It's not realistic to whack the TEAM budget by over 40% and not expect repercussions. The Mum Festival committee, the Veterans Council, and the Forestville Village Association should be prepared for a very significant reduction in their funding next year due to the Mayor's latest budget cuts. We met with the Mayor yesterday and offered a budget that would have reduced funding for the Mum Parade, the Memorial Day Parade, and the North Main Street festival by "only" 20%, but it was rejected. The Mayor said that these are difficult financial times, and established organizations like the Mum Festival and the Veterans Council are going to have to step up their fundraising efforts.
Update:
Mayor Art Ward sent this along to someone who was worried about the Mum Festival getting its funding cut:
Anyone who has even hinted that the Mum Festival or any other TEAM sponsored activity has been predetermined to being completely cut in funding is doing you a disservice.
My statement was that everything, regardless of the activity, is subject to budgetary scrutiny as a result of the economic hardships that are being dealt with on both the governmental and personal taxpayer level and that funding will be prioritized after that review effort.
It is going to be impossible to present a responsible budget if everyone is going to advocate that only their funding is exempt from the process.
I ask that the Mum Festival, and all other venues which are requesting city dollars, allow us to use the opportunity to function in accordance with the responsibility which has been entrusted to us through the election process.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Budget cuts likely to prove painful
Slicing more than $2 million from the city’s Board of Finance-backed budget plan isn’t easy.
To haul the slated 1.5 mills property tax hike down to a less painful 1 mill increase, “there’s going to be sacrifices that have to be made,” said Mayor Art Ward.
Nothing’s off the table as officials scour the $170 million budget they’re eyeing now in a bid to hold property taxes down – not even the Mum Festival.
“You have to reassess everything in the budget,” the mayor said.
Whether some or all of the Mum Festival’s $16,000 allocation get sliced won’t even be clear when the final budget passes Monday.
Ward said he’s looking to lop $30,000 from the tourism and arts line item, which could mean a reduction to the Mum Festival, but that’s a decision for later by the special committee that assesses how best to fork over municipal money for cultural needs.
It would “totally out of whack,” though, to say the Mum Festival will suffer unduly in the fiscal shakedown, the mayor said.
Even so, Ward said, “nobody is exempt from the process.”
Among those facing reductions is the St. Vincent DePaul Society’s homeless shelter, which may have to get by with $5,000 less from the city, enough to create hardship for the always financially strapped organization.
The Bristol Visiting Nurse Association is targeted for a $60,000 reduction, said Ward. Both Ward and city Comptroller Glenn Klocko said the cut is on the table because the group has a large rainy day fund of its own.
Ward said that when the finance board approved the first draft of the budget, the state was still looking at a surplus. Now state leaders figure they might have an $80 million deficit instead, which could grow larger still.
“It’s not a good time,” the mayor said. “But it’s a time of realization. I have to be looking at the taxpayers’ ability to pay.”
Ward said that with people facing higher bills, the city can’t ask them to pay more in taxes than the bare minimum.
“I have to look at it as responsibly as possible,” the mayor said.
He said he’s trying to preserve services and avoid layoffs by postponing purchases and projects, including some he’s long supported, such as renovating the firehouses.
“We’re doing what we have to do to exist as a community,” Ward said.
The mayor said he’s surprised at how things have turned around since he took office.
“What’s transpired in the last six months has been a 180 from what I anticipated,” Ward said.
The final budget is slated for passage at a joint session of the finance board and City Council at 5 p.m. Monday.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
To haul the slated 1.5 mills property tax hike down to a less painful 1 mill increase, “there’s going to be sacrifices that have to be made,” said Mayor Art Ward.
Nothing’s off the table as officials scour the $170 million budget they’re eyeing now in a bid to hold property taxes down – not even the Mum Festival.
“You have to reassess everything in the budget,” the mayor said.
Whether some or all of the Mum Festival’s $16,000 allocation get sliced won’t even be clear when the final budget passes Monday.
Ward said he’s looking to lop $30,000 from the tourism and arts line item, which could mean a reduction to the Mum Festival, but that’s a decision for later by the special committee that assesses how best to fork over municipal money for cultural needs.
It would “totally out of whack,” though, to say the Mum Festival will suffer unduly in the fiscal shakedown, the mayor said.
Even so, Ward said, “nobody is exempt from the process.”
Among those facing reductions is the St. Vincent DePaul Society’s homeless shelter, which may have to get by with $5,000 less from the city, enough to create hardship for the always financially strapped organization.
The Bristol Visiting Nurse Association is targeted for a $60,000 reduction, said Ward. Both Ward and city Comptroller Glenn Klocko said the cut is on the table because the group has a large rainy day fund of its own.
Ward said that when the finance board approved the first draft of the budget, the state was still looking at a surplus. Now state leaders figure they might have an $80 million deficit instead, which could grow larger still.
“It’s not a good time,” the mayor said. “But it’s a time of realization. I have to be looking at the taxpayers’ ability to pay.”
Ward said that with people facing higher bills, the city can’t ask them to pay more in taxes than the bare minimum.
“I have to look at it as responsibly as possible,” the mayor said.
He said he’s trying to preserve services and avoid layoffs by postponing purchases and projects, including some he’s long supported, such as renovating the firehouses.
“We’re doing what we have to do to exist as a community,” Ward said.
The mayor said he’s surprised at how things have turned around since he took office.
“What’s transpired in the last six months has been a 180 from what I anticipated,” Ward said.
The final budget is slated for passage at a joint session of the finance board and City Council at 5 p.m. Monday.
*******
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
September 23, 2007
More on the Mum Parade
A clear, warm autumn day brought thousands downtown to see what may have been the biggest Mum Parade yet.
By noon, an hour and a half before the parade kicked off on Race Street, “a sea of chairs” already lined the route, said Democratic mayoral contender Art Ward.
Long before the color guards, marching bands, twirlers and beauty queens began moving out, people were plunked down in the chairs, peering from balconies and finding comfortable positions to watch the popular parade.
The biggest cheers went to a small contingent of soldiers on a military Humvee as the community once again proved that whatever it thinks of the war, it loves the troops.
People along the route "would stand up and cheer," said Pat Nelligan, the reservist driving the Humvee, who just got back from a trip to Kuwait and the front lines.
Also getting some big applause was citywide visual arts instructor Lori Meusel Eschner, Bristol’s teacher of the year, who held a Mum-inspired pallette as she waved to the crowd.
Carlyle “Hap” Barnes, the grand marshal this year, said as he climbed out of a convertible at the end of the route, that he had a blast.
“It was wonderful,” Barnes said. “What an opportunity. It was the chance of a lifetime.”
Barnes, who used to drive an old fire truck in the parade, said he didn’t bring the truck this time around because he feared it wouldn’t make it until the end.
Eight-year-old Katie Saunders feared she wouldn’t make it to the end either.
With three quarters of the two and a half hour parade still to go, Saunders said, “This is really long. When will it be over?”
But more veteran parade watchers knew that the Mum Parade requires stamina, from watchers as well as marchers.
The Republican’s mayoral nominee appeared to have plenty of energy even as the parade neared an end.
Trailing a large group of young people with “Bristol First” t-shirts and signs, he jogged down the south side of Memorial Boulevard, slapping hands with parade watchers as he proclaimed, “Hello, my name’s Ken Johnson and I’m running for mayor.”
Ward, too, still had a spring in his step at the end of the route.
He said the parade organizers “deserve a heartfelt, grateful extension of thanks” for putting together a terrific event that even managed to start on time.
City Councilor Craig Minor said he thought turnout was as big as it’s been in a long time.
“Bristol is the kind of town that appreciates this kind of thing,” Minor said, because of its family orientation.
The parade featured all sorts of music, from the Bristol Brass and Wind Ensemble to marching bands from a handful of schools, including the city’s two public high schools, Terryville High School and Lewis Mills High School.
Members of Newington’s Sphinx Shriners Motor Patrol did figure eights in tiny cars while wearing their distinctive head gear while other members of the group played in a band that helps raise money for the care of sick children.
Caroline Kucharski of Burlington watched from a folding chair under a tree on West Street.
“I always come,” she said. “This is so fun, especially all the kids.”
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
By noon, an hour and a half before the parade kicked off on Race Street, “a sea of chairs” already lined the route, said Democratic mayoral contender Art Ward.
Long before the color guards, marching bands, twirlers and beauty queens began moving out, people were plunked down in the chairs, peering from balconies and finding comfortable positions to watch the popular parade.
The biggest cheers went to a small contingent of soldiers on a military Humvee as the community once again proved that whatever it thinks of the war, it loves the troops.
People along the route "would stand up and cheer," said Pat Nelligan, the reservist driving the Humvee, who just got back from a trip to Kuwait and the front lines.
Also getting some big applause was citywide visual arts instructor Lori Meusel Eschner, Bristol’s teacher of the year, who held a Mum-inspired pallette as she waved to the crowd.
Carlyle “Hap” Barnes, the grand marshal this year, said as he climbed out of a convertible at the end of the route, that he had a blast.
“It was wonderful,” Barnes said. “What an opportunity. It was the chance of a lifetime.”
Barnes, who used to drive an old fire truck in the parade, said he didn’t bring the truck this time around because he feared it wouldn’t make it until the end.
Eight-year-old Katie Saunders feared she wouldn’t make it to the end either.
With three quarters of the two and a half hour parade still to go, Saunders said, “This is really long. When will it be over?”
But more veteran parade watchers knew that the Mum Parade requires stamina, from watchers as well as marchers.
The Republican’s mayoral nominee appeared to have plenty of energy even as the parade neared an end.
Trailing a large group of young people with “Bristol First” t-shirts and signs, he jogged down the south side of Memorial Boulevard, slapping hands with parade watchers as he proclaimed, “Hello, my name’s Ken Johnson and I’m running for mayor.”
Ward, too, still had a spring in his step at the end of the route.
He said the parade organizers “deserve a heartfelt, grateful extension of thanks” for putting together a terrific event that even managed to start on time.
City Councilor Craig Minor said he thought turnout was as big as it’s been in a long time.
“Bristol is the kind of town that appreciates this kind of thing,” Minor said, because of its family orientation.
The parade featured all sorts of music, from the Bristol Brass and Wind Ensemble to marching bands from a handful of schools, including the city’s two public high schools, Terryville High School and Lewis Mills High School.
Members of Newington’s Sphinx Shriners Motor Patrol did figure eights in tiny cars while wearing their distinctive head gear while other members of the group played in a band that helps raise money for the care of sick children.
Caroline Kucharski of Burlington watched from a folding chair under a tree on West Street.
“I always come,” she said. “This is so fun, especially all the kids.”
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Mum Parade a big hit
The tail end of this year's Mum Parade is passing by the Bristol Press windows now, with the music from "High School Musical" blaring out as the crowd cheers.
So it's almost a wrap for what may well be the largest Mum Parade yet. The crowds are lining the seemingly endless route through downtown - and it appears that a third of the city's 60,000 residents are somehow in the parade.
There's no denying the event is the city's most popular, especially on a sparkling clear, warm autumn afternoon.
From what I could see -- and I saw most of the parts of the parade several times -- the biggest cheers went to a small contingent of soldiers on a military Humvee as the community once again proved that whatever it thinks of the war, it loves the troops.
People along the route "would stand up and cheer," said Pat Nelligan, the reservist driving the Humvee, who just got back from a trip to Kuwait and the front lines.
I'll post a full report on the parade later.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
So it's almost a wrap for what may well be the largest Mum Parade yet. The crowds are lining the seemingly endless route through downtown - and it appears that a third of the city's 60,000 residents are somehow in the parade.
There's no denying the event is the city's most popular, especially on a sparkling clear, warm autumn afternoon.
From what I could see -- and I saw most of the parts of the parade several times -- the biggest cheers went to a small contingent of soldiers on a military Humvee as the community once again proved that whatever it thinks of the war, it loves the troops.
People along the route "would stand up and cheer," said Pat Nelligan, the reservist driving the Humvee, who just got back from a trip to Kuwait and the front lines.
I'll post a full report on the parade later.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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