Plans to combine Decatur festivals moving forward

— Staff Writer [email protected]

DECATUR - After a multitude of meetings in November and December, the Chamber of Commerce and the Parks and Recreation Committee have worked out many of the details involved in holding the Decatur Barbecue and Bulldog Days backto-back on August 7th, 8th and possibly the 9th.

At Monday’s meeting, Chamber of Commerce members discussed the plan that was developed at the last Chamber of Commerce and Parks and Recreation Subcommittee meeting, held on Dec. 21.

The subcommittee suggested having the company that supplies the Gallery Cafe bring a refrigerated food trailer and park it at Veterans Park. The Chamber of Commerce and Parks and Recreation Committee would be able to use as much meat as they needed, but would only have to pay for what they used.

The Chamber of Commerce could continue to cook about 1,500 traditional barbecued chicken dinners and sell them in the park and at the satellite office at the Decatur General Store. Then after the parade, hamburgers and hot-dogs would also be sold.

The chamber proposed selling chicken dinners and hamburger dinners for the same price and selling hot-dogs at a lower price, with children in mind. On Friday night, the Chamber of Commerce could do an inventory of the refrigerated trailer and donate any half-empty boxes to the Parks and Recreation Committee. Thenthe committee could continue to sell whatever food they wished on Saturday and Sunday.

Several chamber members will be meeting with the food supplier on Wednesday, Stacy Brooks said. After the meeting they will have a better idea if the proposal will work or if would be cheaper to buy the food from a different source, he said.

Some of the other ideas discussed at Monday’s meeting were:

◊Charging $3 to park cars on Friday and splitting the proceeds between the Chamber and the Parks and Recreation Committee.

◊Charging food and craft vendors a small fee plus a percentage of their profits.

◊Solutions for splitting fixed expenses like dumpsters and portable bathrooms.

◊Whether to keep two names for the event or create a combined name.

◊Printing posters for the events.

It was decided to hold the annual fun run on Saturday morning instead of Friday to boost attendance and to keep children’s games on Friday morning rather than rescheduling them to Saturday morning.

The Parks and Recreation Committee and Chamber of Commerce Subcommittee will meet again on Thursday night to continue working out the details of combining the two events. The Parks and Recreation Committee will meet again at 5 p.m., Jan. 11, in the city council room.

“We have the same goal,” Johnson said.

“Everybody’s trying to help the town,” Adam McGee replied.

Egg Hunt

In other business the Chamber of Commerce set April 3, the day before Easter Sunday, as the date for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. The egg hunt will be held in Veteran’s Park.

News, Pages 1 on 01/06/2010