After many months of discussions between the Fishers Freedom Festival and the City of Fishers, it appears the annual summer event will remain at its long-time Holland Park home in 2017.  After 2017, it is unclear what happens next.

City officials had been saying for several months that the 2017 festival would be held in downtown Fishers in the Nickel Plate District, at the municipal complex.  It appears those plans have changed.

In a December 19th Fishers City Council work session, a discussion was held on the city’s support for a number of nonprofit organizations in the local community.  The Fishers Freedom Festival is one of those groups.

Council members were told the city expects to financially support the Freedom Festival at the same dollar amount in 2017 as it did in 2016.  That includes $85,000 of cash and $48,000 of “in-kind” support.  In-kind support includes help from the police and fire departments, as well as the Department of Public Works and the Parks Department.

Fishers Freedom Festival Executive Director Jennifer Kehl, who also serves as the Fishers City Clerk, told LarryInFishers that all the contract language has not been finalized, but she expects the 2017 festival to be held at Holland Park, the same as all previous events, going back to 1989.  After 2017, the Festival Committee and the city will sort-out what comes next.

The City Council has a subcommittee studying the city’s support of local nonprofits.  Mayor Scott Fadness told council members the city will be doing an annual review of that support, and new procedures will be in place for accountability for the nonprofit group’s receiving support from the city, beginning with the budget cycle for 2018..