Founders' Days fest goes on despite rain

The rain may have abbreviated the 50th anniversary of Algonquin's Founders' Days Festival, but on Sunday - the final day of the four-day event - families who trekked down to Towne Park found the festival was not short on fun.

Organizers were forced to cancel many of the events planned over the weekend after heavy rain on Friday flooded part of Towne Park. The weekend lineup of bands never took the stage, food vendors closed shop and the beer garden stayed shut because more than 4½ inches of rain fell in about six hours, said Founders Days' President Kevin Myers.

"There were no bands, no beer and no money." Myers said. "But we still had the Founders' Run, a wonderful parade and there's still the fireworks."

Myers said although gate fees were down and the festival's social garden sale was canceled this year, the festival is not in financial straits.

"With as dependent as we are on weather, we put a contingency plan in place 15 years ago, and we save for a literal rainy day," Myers said. "This does have a material affect on the balance sheet, but I am proud to say we are far from insolvent."

Myer said the loss of revenue is less significant than the cancellation of a lot of the fun activities like the Kids Craft Day, bike decorating contest and bean bag tournament.

Despite the soggy conditions Sunday, hundreds of people took advantage of the free admission, cooler weather and shorter lines to ride carnival favorites like the Tilt-a-Whirl.

"We come every year," said Juri Toman, who attended the carnival Sunday with her husband, Mike, and their two children, Andrew, 6, and Nicholas, 3.

"My brother is on the board and we know how many meetings he has to go to and what it takes to put it on. It is disappointing when it doesn't happen. But we heard the carnival was open and the fireworks were still on, so we came down."