Hartford to No Longer Subsidize Parades, Festivals

One of the city's expenses that saw the budget ax for the next year is payments for festivals and parades.

Historically, the city had been very generous to organizations that put on music festivals, parades and other large scale events. Hartford has provided police, firefighters, public works and other personnel to make sure the events went smoothly.

“The city’s cost after reimbursements or the portions that the organizers would contribute was $700,000 for the year" said Melissa McCaw, who's in charge of budgeting and grants for the City of Hartford.

“A city that’s facing a shortfall of $10 million and we’re incurring $700,000 in expenses, we had to think differently about how to approach this.”

The groups that put on its respective events will be responsible to pay for the costs that the city would otherwise have to pay for. That's a model used by many other cities around the country because such events require extra police and fire staff to ensure the events are safe.

“We were waiting for that shoe to drop and we realized that we had to start thinking creatively and quickly on our feet because the parade couldn’t just be stopped," said Ana Valentin-Jackson, who chairs the board of the Puerto Rican Parade, slated for Sunday, June 5.

For the 2016 parade, Valentin-Jackson said her group struck a deal with the city to pay for some public works costs like trash collection. In future years, however, she said the event will need help from sponsors and other groups to make the event go smoothly.

She said there is no way the parade in Hartford will go away, even if the costs skyrocket.

“It’s the one staple event for the Puerto Rican community to celebrate our traditions, our culture and where we come from.”

Valentin-Jackson is open to making the parade a shared event among cities that groups from around Connecticut would help coordinate.

McCaw, with the City of Hartford, said that could be an event the city would love support as a region.

“I think we can make it bigger and better. I think there’s a great opportunity and that’s a wonderful example," McCraw said. 

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