Abbotsford approves Abby Festival location for 2024

By Neal Hogden

An ongoing discussion between Abby Festival officials and the city of Abbotsford City Council over the site of the Abby Festival celebration became heated at the council’s meeting on April 16.

This year’s Abby Festival will run Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2. The festival was on the council’s agenda for approval of a street use permit request. The permit states sections of road will be closed on Tuesday through Sunday for the ninth annual event. The festival uses North First Street in Abbotsford from Cedar Street to before Birch Street for the carnival, vendors and food stands.

Discussion about the event’s future in Abbotsford began with a statement from Abbotsford Mayor Jim Weix.

Weix said with the permit being on the agenda, he would like to see the council consider moving the event to avoid future complications with construction.

“We are going to be re-doing Main Street and now is the time to address it. When Main Street is being re-done, we cannot control what dates the construction firm will be here working,” Weix said. “So, now is the time to start looking for a new location. I would recommend that, strongly.” Chamber board of directors member Kris O’Leary said when Colby re-did First Street which holds the Colby Cheese Days carnival area, they worked with the construction company to adjust their construction schedule to fit around Cheese Days events.

“Their’s was in the middle of July,”

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O’Leary said. “Since this is in the beginning of June, maybe the construction company would be willing to work with the festival.”

Former Chamber Office Coordinator Maria Garcia Torres suggested the company could start on an end of the road that wouldn’t affect the festival’s activities.

Public Works Director Craig Stuttgen said that likely would not be possible as the crews will be replacing utilities that will need to be fully pulled up along the length of the project. He also said the project has not been bid out yet and so he doesn’t know any details on start date, who would be performing the project or what they would prefer to start with.

The project is scheduled to begin in 2026 and Stuttgen said a Main Street committee has yet to be formed so the city doesn’t truly know what the scope of the project will be yet.

“We’ve got time on our hands to find a new location,” Weix said.

“Or, see if they’re willing to hold [construction] off,” O’Leary responded.

Weix and council member Jeremiah Zeiset voiced their opinion that the festival could move to the parking lot of the East Town Mall off of Spruce Street. Zeiset said he had talked to the mall owner and they would be more than willing to host the event. He said the space would allow the festival to grow.

“I want to see [the festival] grow,” Weix said. “We saw Main Street come back to life and I like what I’m seeing here.”

He later said he looked on an online map that showed the festival uses 45,000 square feet where it is currently located. He said the festival would be able to use 115,000 square feet at the East Town Mall.

O’Leary noted the parking lot was broken up and even if the parking lot was repaired and deemed serviceable to host the event, people would not want to go to the eastern end of town to participate in the event. She also said businesses on Main Street benefit from the estimated 3,000 people that descend on Abbotsford for the weekend’s events.

“They like [the festival] because we bring business,” Diana Sosa said. “That’s the purpose of having the festival.”

“That is the chamber’s role. To bring people into our businesses,” O’Leary added.

Zeiset said there are area businesses that do not like the festival being on Main Street, noting that he himself was one of those as it creates an inconvenience for trucks to unload.

“I’m just trying to bring in the other side. It’s not all roses for every business,” Zeiset said.

Weix said with all the equipment and people that come to the event, Main Street gets really cramped for space, parking and emergency vehicles. He added that the parking issue that persists during the event causes issues.

Colby-Abbotsford Police Chief Alex Bowman attended the meeting and said the CAPD can deal with any sort of space limitations, but he does have an issue with a specific business that attracts crime during the event.

“I don’t necessarily have a problem with the festival. I think it’s a great thing,” Bowman said. “I do have a problem with the bar that’s in the middle of this festival.”

Event organizer and chamber board of directors member Diana Sosa said she would like to see the festival expand years from now but she said they would need to cross that bridge when it comes.

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to use a little common sense and look for a location where you’ve got room to expand?” Weix asked Sosa.

“What are the options you’re giving us?” Sosa responded.

“You need to be on city property,” O’Leary added. “So where do we go?”

Weix asked why it has to be on public property and was told a public event cannot go on private property based on the carnival’s insurance agreement. O’Leary said the city carries liability when the event is held on public property and said putting the event on private property would open up legal challenges regarding insurance.

“So it could still be covered, it’d just have to be done differently,” Zeiset said. Having the event where First City Days currently resides on West Hemlock Street was brought up. Sosa said the event used to be held there but after rainy weather caused the ground to be torn up, the carnival was moved to Main Street.

A concern was also brought up about the carnival making indents on new pavement. Stuttgen said he wasn’t sure what the carnival was using when setting up equipment but if there were machines using stabilizers, they would leave indents on hot blacktop if that’s the route the city went with the Main Street project. He said concrete will not suffer the same damage from heavy machinery.

Central Fire and EMS Chief Joe Mueller said the event is not ideal for emergency vehicles. He said in the event of a fire, he couldn’t guarantee his ladder truck could get to where it needed to go during the event. He said normally, the district would use alleys to access buildings that have been blocked off from the front but he said the alley west of Main Street is full of wiring above the roadway so trucks would not effectively be able to service the area.

Zeiset suggested combining First City Days with the Abby Festival in order to draw more people to the event and in turn, make it a destination that people will be willing to travel to the west end of town for.

Sosa said in general, the festival could work with the city to adjust its plan but it needed help from the city to do that.

“Jim and I have had many conversations about [the festival],” Sosa said. “We are willing to work with the city if the city is willing to work with us. But it’s not like, ‘Well, we don’t want it here.’ It’s not like that.”

Mason Rachu said he wasn’t a fan of starting the project late. He said it could cost more, the city could run into issues with cold weather and not having the work done in time.

“I think if construction could start, they should start,” Rachu said.

“If it’s temporary just for that year, I understand,” Sosa said.

The council decided to approve the application for Main Street use in 2024 but keep the issue on its radar as they move forward with planning the Main Street construction project.