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West Chester Chamber asks council for $20 special-event garage fee or budgeted sponsorship to sustain annual Christmas parade
Summary
The Greater Westchester Chamber of Commerce requested a $20 special event parking fee or a borough sponsorship to help cover rising costs of the Christmas parade, citing volunteer time, professional lighting costs and a large increase in recent borough invoices.
Katie Walker of the Greater Westchester Chamber of Commerce asked West Chester Borough Council to consider a $20 special-event parking fee or a borough sponsorship to help sustain the 2025 Christmas parade.
Walker, who identified herself as representing the Greater Westchester Chamber, told council the chamber raises funds primarily through membership dues and sponsorships and spends about $80,000 in personnel costs plus roughly $130,000 in event expenses annually. “We organize a toy drive…we bring Chester County Hospital lights up holiday weekends to Westchester,” she said, and added that the chamber’s events are free to the public.
Walker said the chamber is planning professional lighting valued at about $40,000, a tree lighting on Nov. 29, a parade planned for Dec. 5 with roughly 80 parade elements and 150 volunteers, and other holiday events. She told council she reviewed historical payments the chamber made to the borough and found pre-pandemic invoices from 2017–2019 of roughly $9,300–$9,800, while recent final invoices were nearly $18,000. “I just thought it was important for you to have those numbers in mind when the chamber's considering almost an 82% increase from when we were operating this pre pandemic, to our current year,” Walker said.
Council members discussed options including creating a $20 garage parking surcharge for parade patrons, adding a line item sponsorship in the borough budget, or developing a formal partnership agreement such as a memorandum of understanding to clarify recurring support and avoid ad hoc discounting. One councilmember said putting the parade in the annual budget “would be setting a precedent, but…the taxpayers want a Christmas parade.” Another said any support should be structured to avoid creating a pattern where many events expect discounts.
Council agreed to revisit the issue in June and directed staff to work with the chamber on options; the mayor indicated council was “probably in agreement plus 3 about a $20 fee” while noting the need for a structured policy to avoid repeat requests from other events. Walker said she would participate in follow-up conversations.
The request was discussed during the public comment period; no formal council vote on a fee or budget sponsorship was taken at the meeting.
