Freedom Festival withdraws RibFest plans
Freedom Festival withdraws plans for 4-day BBQ event,
looks to City Council for support to return July 4th events Downtown
Cedar Rapids, Iowa – January 18, 2010 – Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival today announced it has withdrawn its event application to the City of Cedar Rapids to hold a 4-day barbecue event June 24 – 27. The Festival also called for support from the Cedar Rapids City Council to help return the annual Celebration of Freedom events on July 4 to its traditional May’s Island downtown venue.
“Today we are formally withdrawing our event application for RibFest 2010, scheduled for June 24-27,” said Freedom Festival executive director, Janet Wilhelm. “There are ample reasons that make RibFest not only family-friendly and affordable, but also necessary and feasible. However, based on input from some members of the Cedar Rapids City Council and unsuccessful negotiations with representatives of the Cedar Rapids Five Seasons Facilities Commission and its management company, VenuWorks, we have deemed it in the best interests of the community and Freedom Festival to discontinue our endeavor to produce this event. We are also mindful of other very high priority community recovery items upon which the City Council must focus its attention.
“We have notified the nine National Barbecue Cookers Association cookers who were scheduled to be part of RibFest of this decision and we are in the process of returning their performance deposits,” Wilhelm added. “We extend our thanks and best wishes to these talented cookers as they work to fill out their schedules at other events throughout the country.”
Freedom Festival officials noted that they remain committed to the Festival’s longstanding mission to provide safe, affordable and fun annual events that embody the spirit of patriotism and the sense of community and family, and are sharply focused on producing Freedom Festival 2010 presented by the Gazette Family of Companies.
“We will be looking for strong support from the City Council to return all July 4, 2010 activities to Downtown Cedar Rapids,” Wilhelm added. “Returning July 4th activities to their traditional downtown venue is a desire we hear expressed daily by many individuals, families and organizations throughout Cedar Rapids and the surrounding area.”
Freedom Festival presented by the Gazette Family of Companies is scheduled for June 13 through July 4.