Mt. Prospect cuts Blues Fest; says money isn’t there

Mount Prospect has axed this summer’s Blues and Fine Arts Festival because of a tight budget and tardy state funds.

In a statement, officials also blamed the “present state of the economy and the budget situation currently facing the village.”

The festival, one of the village’s most highly-promoted summer events, took over downtown Mount Prospect for a day and night in June. It featured well-known blues artists playing on an outdoor stage; while the fine arts fest had paintings, sculpture, pottery, photography, glass and jewelry.

The fest also cost about $30,000 — mostly in overtime for police, fire and public works employees, said Village Manager Mike Janonis. The Blues Bar, a restaurant that specializes in live music, covered the cost of entertainment, he said.

“Not to take anything away from it, but the Blues Fest is more of a recent phenomenon,” Janonis said.

“From a cost standpoint, we have to prioritize our events and keep the ones that have good draws and are for the whole family” — like the Fourth of July parade and the Mount Prospect Block Party, which will still be around this year.

The Winter Parade is still out, Janonis said.

“We are cutting back as much as we can without affecting the core services we provide to residents,” the village statement said.

“Hopefully, 2012 will bring more favorable conditions and we will be able to reinstate the Fine Arts/Blues Fest.”

Blues Fest is not the only Mount Prospect event struggling these days. Last month, the Mount Prospect Lions Club started a new “Bang for a Buck” campaign to help offset declining corporate and village contributions to their Fourth of July fireworks shows.

In 2008 and 2009, the village contributed $12,500 and $13,500, respectively, to the fireworks shows. But that’s not possible with today’s tight budgets, officials say, so instead the Lions will receive only $3,500 from the village.

In December trustees approved a 2011 budget that avoided a projected $3 million deficit but eliminated positions and reduced services.

The board also outsourced building inspections and did not hire back crossing guards.