Just heard a local news item on NPR about the City of Chicago having to cut days off all of our summer fests across the board. Jazz, Gospel, Blues and Celtic Fest are all going to get cut back. Reason? Budget. We're a bit in the hole as far as operating money is concerned. Like a lot of municipalities and companies the prospect of a "Christmas Vacation" for non-police and emergency employees is a strong possibility.

Those few brave souls who attended this past year's Celtic Fest know that we literally got soaked and swamped but the Fest went on. I realize that the vendors must have taken a hit because of the light attendance due to weather and I have to feel for them having to travel and pay to set up...I hope that they got some kind of consideration from the City. The joke for me is that the City of Chicago controls so much space that they could move any one of these events inside if they wanted to. The Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics is siphoning off resources even though the majority of the citizens are indifferent to or in opposition to having the Games.

How many other locales are going to have to cut back? Hey...get some pipers, some fiddlers, some kilts and a keg of brew and a Celtic Fest will break out whether you want it to or not. One thinks that there might be some alternatives to a radical cut back.

Best

AA