Organizers of this year's planned India Day parade in Naperville will get some financial help from the city, but it's still not clear whether that will be enough to keep the event from moving to another community.
Members of the Naperville City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night to award Indian Community Outreach more than $24,000 to offset costs associated with a parade this summer, but would not approve money for a companion festival.
Organizers had staged the event annually since 2015, bringing visitors from around the Chicago area and elsewhere, but increased security demands from city police forced organizers to cancel it last year. And a request for more than $400,000 in funding was denied by Naperville's special events commission, in part because organizers did not attend meetings when grants were recommended.
ICO treasurer Viral Shah said the group didn't think it had to because the event was similar to past years' plans, and suggesting that attending meetings was often a burden for all-volunteer organizations.
"We shouldn't be expected to lobby commissioners or council folks to say that, 'hey hey, my event is coming, hey, can you please support my event?'"
But City Councilman Dr. Benjamin White did not seem satisfied by that explanation: "You said you didn't want to be lobbying ... essentially, that's what you're doing right now, though."
And colleague Mary Gibson said the request was unfair to the more than 80 other groups who followed the process: "I think it sets a dangerous precedent."
Council member Josh McBroom noted "mistakes were made," but said denying funding would be a "bad look" for the community, especially as organizers considered moving it to Oak Brook or Aurora: "I don't want to see another town get this event."
Shah said ICO would have to discuss whether the financial offer would be enough to keep the event in Naperville this year.
$24K would defray parade costs; reverses events commission
$24K would defray parade costs; reverses events commission
