The City of Lincoln had the opportunity to host Lakefest in 2023. And initially, upon meeting the organizers, it sounded like a great idea for our community.
However, once presented with a contractual agreement – some of the stipulations that raised concern were as follows: 1) the city was asked to pay $60,000.00 and 2) the event would allow them to have complete control over our new Lincoln's Landing Park for 3 days. Additionally, we would need to also budget for increased police & fire personnel, among a few other details.
As a council, we open-mindedly debated on the pros and cons; but, further conversation brought to light that Lakefest currently pays their host city $0. This was a hurdle that resulted in a stale mate. With the exception of one council member, we felt that as good stewards of the taxpayer dollar – while we could handle the additional personnel needs, we could not justify spending $60K in public funds for an event that would shut our park down while our sister city pays nothing.
Please know, while we chose to skip this opportunity – there are so many more to come! The City of Lincoln has recognized the need for, and is working with, community partners to establish a Special Events Committee to assist planning the many outstanding events that are headed our way! Our goal is to have not just a boat show – but rather year around events that will always allow for our world class park to remain open… such as the BBQ Competition already planned for August 2023, The car show & concert, The Logan Martin Outdoor Show and much much more!
