NEENAH, Wis. (WFRV) – Neenah city officials are asking organizers to move their pride festival to Riverside Park after giving conditional approval to have the event downtown.
The decision has caused backlash from the event organizers as well as some downtown businesses.
When Dana Johnson and other leaders of Fox Valley Pride look at West Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Neenah they say they see a great opportunity.
“We’d be bringing 3,000 people to the city to essentially support small businesses,” said Johnson who is the festival coordinator for Fox Valley Pride. “It’s a place of hope, of healing, a place where members of the community can come and feel like they have that sense of belonging.”
The group used to be called ‘Appleton Pride,’ but has since expanded and changed its name so it could include all of the Fox Valley. On June 22, they will host a pride event with vendors, live entertainment, and food and drinks. Their problem right now is figuring out where to have it.
Fox Valley Pride officials tell Local 5 News that they received conditional approval from the city of Neenah to have their event in the 100 and 200 block of West Wisconsin Avenue (which is right in the heart of downtown Neenah).
City officials confirmed with Local 5 News that they did give the group conditional approval on the downtown Neenah location. However, the city said that Fox Valley Pride jumped the gun by advertising and marketing that they would get that location before final approval.
In a statement sent to Local 5 News, city of Neenah officials explained why they had second thoughts about allowing the event to happen downtown.
“This event is the first request put forward from an organization to close, for a full day, the downtown blocks in our historic business district since the Streetball 3 on 3 basketball event ended several years ago. That event sparked issues for our downtown business owners who in many cases were faced with closing their doors on the busiest day of the week due to traffic and parking disruption. No other events have been approved in our downtown that close the 100 and 200 W. Wisconsin Ave. blocks for an entire day since the Streetball 3 on 3 basketball event ended.”
City of Neenah statement
City officials want the event to happen in nearby Riverside Park instead of in the downtown district.
“We’re definitely pretty disappointed that there was this sudden change of heart,” said Johnson. “I want people to feel that the city has embraced being inclusive, they’ve embraced this culture.”
Local 5 News spoke with a person who owns a business on Wisconsin Avenue where the event was originally supposed to take place. He said he agreed with the city’s rationale for moving the event.
He said people in attendance won’t necessarily want to go shopping. He said in the past when the street closes for events it’s been really bad for business.
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Organizers scheduled the pride event for a Saturday which the business owner said was also worrisome because that’s their busiest day of the week and they can’t afford to lose customers. He said he believes that having the event at Riverside Park strikes the perfect balance because the group can still have the event in Neenah without any potential negative impact on business owners.
Other local business owners like Matt Gloede with Sante Wine Bar & Bistro disagree.
“(We’re missing out on) 3000 people coming downtown,” said Gloede. “Sure we can have it at a different place, but that’s going to be another Saturday that is just going to be another Saturday in the summer.”
“It was going to bring so many more walkable patrons,” Chelsie Nachreiner-Wickman who is the assistant manager at Sante Wine Bar & Bistro. “Regardless if you participated in pride as a business you’re going to get extra business that day.”
Gloede said they’d already started preparing for the extra crowds the event would have brought with different menu items and special cocktail options. He said he had already bought 400 pride flags to hand out as well.
There’s no drinking allowed inside Neenah parks, however; the city has talked about allowing outdoor drinking in downtown areas. This is another reason why organizers of the pride event said downtown is a better location than the park.
Supporters of having the event downtown said the city was missing out on an opportunity to show that Neenah is inclusive and progressive.
“I want people to feel that the city has embraced being inclusive, they’ve embraced this culture,” said Johnson. “We want you to be here it’s a sense of belonging for you.”
Fox Valley Pride officials said they’re also looking at locations in Appleton, Menasha, and Oshkosh to potentially have the pride event. They said they’re open to having additional dialogue with the city about this matter.
“The City of Neenah enjoys welcoming all groups for celebration and looks forward to working with Fox Valley Pride to hold the event at Riverside Park,” the city wrote in a statement.
