Council declares Prairie Harvest Fest an official city event, OKs tourism-board funding for festival participation

The Morris City Council voted Feb. 11 to adopt a resolution establishing Prairie Harvest Fest as an official city community event and approved tourism board recommendations to allocate tourism funds for event activities.

Becca, a city staff member who presented the tourism board’s recommendations, said the board approved advertising a community financial workshop through the chamber rather than using tourism funds, will list flyers on the tourism website and recommended using tourism dollars to cover hotel and conference registration for two staff members to attend the Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference. "So that’s the only one that we'll be asking for any dollars from," Becca said of the conference attendance.

On Prairie Harvest Fest, Becca said the board recommended the same approach used in past years: use tourism funds to pay for bounce houses and fireworks and to market the event. She provided dollar guidance: she said the tourism board identified approximately $2,001.67 for bounce houses and authorized up to $7,500 for fireworks, and that staff had identified a vendor who may perform the fireworks for about $5,000. "If we go with him, it's gonna be less, about $5,000," Becca said.

Council discussed whether the city needs to re-declare the festival annually; staff confirmed the dates change year to year and recommended keeping the resolution as drafted for this year while updating language in future years to avoid annual redundancy. The council approved the resolution by roll call.

The council also approved the tourism board marketing recommendations, including using tourism funds for conference attendance, by voice vote earlier in the meeting. The festival resolution was then approved by roll call.

Becca encouraged residents interested in volunteering to get involved with Prairie Harvest Fest planning.