Batavia mayor wants festival kept downtown

The Windmill City Festival will move out of downtown Batavia this year, to a west side park, because of impending construction on Houston Street near its traditional site at the Riverwalk.

Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke, however, hopes the Batavia Park District, the lead organizer of the party, will consider keeping the July 9 to 12 festival in the downtown.

According to district Director Alison Niemela, that won't happen. Letters have already been delivered to neighbors near Engstrom Family Park announcing the festival will be held there, and the district plans to meet with residents April 27 to discuss how the festival will operate.

Niemela said city officials told the district over the winter the festival would have to move, due to the street construction. The construction would cut into the parking available for the festival, and make it difficult for people to walk to the grounds, she said. “It just wasn't an ideal location,” she said.

The festival will have more room at Engstrom, she said. And there will be more parking, as Batavia Evangelical Covenant Church and Batavia High School, across from the park, have agreed to let people park in their lots.

The district has already modified the festival layout, so that sound from musical performances will travel west toward the church and the Mooseheart farmland, instead of toward the houses east of the park, Niemela said.

“We want the neighbors to feel good about the location change,” she said.

Schielke suggested to the city council Monday that at least part of the festival be set up on South Water Street, where the farmers market used to be.

Normally, the vendor booths and beer tent are set up on the lawn of the Riverwalk, near Depot Pond. Bands and other entertainers use the stage at the Peg Bond Center, also located at the Riverwalk.

Carnival rides are set up on Houston Street, between Water Street and Island Avenue.

Schielke said it is important the festival be kept downtown, so festivalgoers will be able to walk to other amenities, such as the farmers market that is held on Saturday mornings on North River Street.

Niemela said the move is temporary, for now, but if people like having the festival at Engstrom, the district is willing to consider making it permanent.