White city councilmen at their monthly meeting Monday will hear a report from a committee formed earlier this month to discuss the potential formation of a city festival. City Manager Jane Richards, who is a member of the committee, said on Friday that the festival discussion is the only item on the agenda, adding that councilmen then could give their OK to a date, time and name of such an event, likely to be held in the spring.
"Spring would be a good time because people will be wanting to get out," she said. "[A festival] gives us a sense of community, I think. It gives people something close that they can go to, and there would be some free things -- I want to do the children's things like the moonwalk and the slide, we'd like to do those and not charge children to play on those -- and just give them a chance to come out and get together and have entertainment."
Richards said that while the planned festival has a proposed name, she wanted to present it first to the council before announcing it. "They may not want to go with this -- they may want to change it a little or go with something completely different. That's fine. I thought we'd come up with a recommendation on it," she said.
In addition to inflatable activities for children, Richards said other attractions that the festival could feature include face painting, a dunking booth, an old car show, and booths for food and more.
The event's location is slated to be the city's James A. White Memorial Park, which features a pavilion that was constructed earlier this year. Other additions made to the park in recent months include new restroom facilities and a merry-go-round.
The festival committee is scheduled to meet again Nov. 18, Richards said, adding that her hope is to have after the first of the year two committee meetings a month to keep festival plans moving forward.
Councilmen Monday also will be presented with a proposed 2011 budget to look over before it is considered at their December meeting. Next month's meeting also will have the council voting on amendments to the 2010 budget. The city's fiscal years run Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.
The council meets Monday at 7 p.m. in city hall.