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Council designates Prairie Harvest Fest a city community event, OKs lodging-tax support
Summary
The Morris City Council approved a resolution recognizing Prairie Harvest Fest as a city event and authorized lodging-tax funding to support festival elements such as fireworks; the tourism board will return a specific event budget for council approval.
The Morris City Council voted to establish Prairie Harvest Fest as an official city community event and authorized city support for festival elements, including insurance for parades and lodging-tax funding for items such as fireworks and inflatables.
City manager Blaine explained the designation allows the city to provide resources — for example, underwriting fireworks and securing insurance — and noted the tourism board recommended tiered marketing support for the festival and two other events. "Typically, it's probably around $10,000 for those kinds of things," Blaine said when discussing the likely scale of city support; he said the festival organizers will submit a budget identifying which items the city should cover.
Council approved the resolution by roll call; Blaine noted that recent state changes require parade participants to carry insurance, which the city sometimes helps manage for community events. Council members said they expect a follow-up return of a line-item budget so the council can approve exact expenditures.
The lodging tax will be the funding source for the tourism board marketing recommendations and for some festival costs pending formal budget approval.
