Folk music festival awaits word on whether flooded Geneva park can be used

Aug. 7 is a red-letter day for organizers of the 41st annual Fox Valley Folk Music and Storytelling Festival.

It's the day they and Geneva Park District officials determine whether Island Park can be fixed in time to host the festival on Labor Day weekend, said Juel Ulven, president of the Fox Valley Folklore Society.

"We're sort of on hold with the park district, proceeding with everything, but exploring alternate sites," Ulven said.

Floodwater is receding, giving a better view hour by hour at damage done when rain, and water from the Fox River, saturated the park the past two weeks.

If it is anything like the last major flood, in 2007, one of the last spots to dry out will be the area where most of the festival takes place - a slight bowl near the pavilion in the center of the park.

Parks officials have been assessing the park at least once a day, according to Traci Wicks, the district's marketing and public relations director.

"There are many things that have to be taken in to consideration before the park, grounds and Fox River Trail can be reopened and safely used by patrons," she said. "The grounds need time to dry out, and this takes time with no further precipitation."

The festival is scheduled for Sept. 3 and 4, and is a partnership of the Fox Valley Folklore Society, the park district and the city.

Ulven estimates about 3,000 people come to the festival each day.

Using another site is not a great option, Ulven said, because there has to be adequate parking, and the festival would have to move its electrical and staging equipment from storage in the pavilion. Festivalgoers park in a small lot near the city's sewage-treatment plant, and at the nearby Kane County Government Center.

But it has more notice this time than in 2007, when the park flooded about 10 days before the festival. The festival was canceled that year. Island Park was under water more than a week, and it was closed for about a month.

Water had killed lawns and flowers, the pavilion took on some water, garbage barrels were filled with silt and dead fish; picnic tables, benches, lumber and debris were scattered around the park; there was erosion behind the island's walls, debris clogged a channel beneath the park's southern bridge; and the 90 cubic yards of safety mulch at the playground in the middle of the park washed away.