2011 Event Results can be found at Festival News!

2011 Red Flannel Festival - TWO WEEKENDS OF FUN!

Sept. 23 & 24

Sept. 30 & RED FLANNEL DAY, Saturday, Oct. 1!

Always the FIRST SATURDAY in OCTOBER!

Visit us, for a WELCOME as WARM as our RED FLANNELS!

See the Schedule for all of this years exciting Events!

Knight & Day, Red Flannels are Here to Stay! 

Come and check out our Red Flannel Jewelry!

Michigan Festivals Association Recognizes Red Flannel Impact

On behalf of Michigan Festivals & Events Association (MFEA), it gives me great pleasure and honor to have the Red Flannel Festival as an MFEA member since the beginning of the Association in 1994. As a member of MFEA, the Red Flannel Festival is getting vast exposure through the following MFEA publications/website:

• www.michiganfun.com – averages over 1 million hits monthly.
• Annual Calendar of Events Brochure – 300,000 are published and distributed throughout Michigan and the U.S.A. Major distribution points are Michigan McDonalds, Michigan AAA Branch Offices, Michigan Welcome Centers, Chicago’s AMTRAK Central Station and thousands of individuals sending in self-addressed stamped envelopes for the very popular vacation/weekend planning brochure.
• Annual Detroit Media Partnership Calendar of Events tabloid – 100,000 are printed and distributed in the Detroit Metro area on the last Sunday of April
• Annual Grand Rapids Press Calendar of Events tabloid – 114,000 are printed and distributed in the Grand Rapids area on the last Thursday of April
• New for 2011, Great Lakes Bay Magazine ran the MFEA festival/event listing in their Spring issue. 20,000 were printed and distributed in the Saginaw-Bay-Midland region.

 Festivals and events have the following economic benefits for their communities:

• Have a significant impact with minimum local expenditure
• Stimulate the economy and bring capital investment to a community
• 21% of U.S. adults attended a festival or event while away from home in 2010
• Festival travelers are younger, have children, extend their stays, and have higher annual income…everything is new and exciting to them!
• Provide a major tourism activity
• Attract new customers to local businesses
• Promote business year round
• Employ thousands of artists
• Promote and celebrate Michigan grown commodities
• Festivals and Events provide an opportunity for members of the community to discover, develop, and display their skills and talents by encouraging self-expression.
• Festivals and Events provide a showcase for new ideas in music, art, drama, crafts and sports.
• Festivals and Events increase community spirit and pride, while at the same time, broaden the cultural and recreational resources of the locality and emphasize its unity with the rest of the State and Country.
• Festivals and Events provide an opportunity to celebrate our history,     culture, harvests, heritage and vast array of unique waterways.
• Festivals and Events stimulate travel to a community and the surrounding region, thereby helping to correct regional disparities.
• Festivals and Events encourage the community to grow and prosper by attracting dollars to it in the form of tourism and, in some cases, new industry.
• Festivals and Events can bring a community together through both the planning of, and the attendance at the event, and will help to give the town a more “people” oriented identity.

 Michigan’s community festivals, fairs, special events, and destinations are a major element of the Michigan lifestyle and the entire tourism economy throughout our great state.  At MFEA, our charter is to provide membership, training, and resources to make these community functions fun, profitable, and a valuable development tool for our smaller communities. 

These events are invariably sponsored by local government entities and major community contributors, who continue to support them because of their inherent value to the state and economy.

The Red Flannel Festival has been in existence since 1939, they have given back to their community and state thousand times over and will continue to do so.

“Thanks to volunteers like you, worthy causes are supported, important events take place,

 our communities are  strengthened, and our lives are enriched.

We thank you for caring…and doing!”

Should you have any questions regarding community events, please contact me via phone, 989-845-3053 or email, sueb@mfea.org

Sincerely,

Sue Bila, CFEE

Executive Director

(Cedar Springs, MI; May 18, 2011) In a letter dated May 13, City Manager Christine Burns communicated the recently adopted City Budget plans to eliminate all city services (Police and Public Works employee wages, fuel for the antique fire engine, street sweeping and equipment rental) for the Red Flannel Festival. At a subsequent meeting on May 17 with Mayor Charlie Watson, Mayor Pro Tem Christine Fahl and City Finance Director, Linda Lehman explained the state budget cuts in revenue sharing causing the recommendation from City Staff to propose eliminating support to the 15^th oldest Festival in Michigan.

Like most communities in Michigan, Cedar Springs has cut staff, benefits, health insurance and services historically provided for citizens such as monthly brush pickup and spring clean-up services.  The Mayor and Council felt there was nowhere else to cut.

The Festival, which draws between 30 and 40 thousand guests per year to the sleepy northern Kent County community each October, will need to urgently rework budgets, events and, as recommended by the City Manager, seek privatized services for security and public works.  The cost is estimated at approximately $7,600.

Festival Board President Michele Andres is concerned about the timing and significant impact of the cuts, as the Festival is only 4 months away. “Our budget was finalized in February, we’ve already distributed our sponsor packets, and contracted with vendors.”  Andres also noted that several events may need to be cut from the 2011 Festival, which has experienced phenomenal growth the past nine years. Final decisions will be made at an emergency Red Flannel Festival Board meeting on Tuesday, May 31.

Mayor Charlie Watson expressed his personal attachment to the cuts, “I’ve lived in this community all my life.  My father chaired the parade for three years.  I love this community and the Festival.  This decision is painful for all of us.”

“As an independent, 501(c)3 non-profit, all volunteer organization, we have hundreds of passionate volunteers, a generous donor base, a supportive business and non-profit community and strong, committed leadership in the Festival Board of Directors. We fully expect, despite this tremendous blow, the love, pride and support of the community will keep our rich tradition alive. There will be a Red Flannel Festival in Cedar Springs October 1. It just may be a few sizes smaller,” said Andres.

About Cedar Springs:

Cedar Springs is located just 20 minutes north of Michigan’s second largest city, Grand Rapids. Situated in northern Kent County, Cedar Springs covers about 1.3 square miles and has a population of 3,112 based on the 2000 census. The community was named for the fine springs bordered by a grove of Cedar trees. Less than a mile from US 131, Cedar Springs provides easy access to the cultural amenities of the greater Grand Rapids area.  Cedar Springs is an attractive community with tree-lined streets and a varied housing base.

About Red Flannel Festival, Inc.:

The Red Flannel Festival is held the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October, attracting between 30 and 40 thousand visitors.  The first “RED FLANNEL DAY” was held in the fall of 1939. The love, pride and support of the community has kept the rich tradition alive! It has continued to be an annual event for 71 YEARS, making it the 15th oldest festival in the State of Michigan!

The 2011 THEME is “KNIGHT & DAY, RED FLANNELS ARE HERE TO STAY!”

Congratulations to the 2011 Festival Grand Marshal, GARY GUST!