Solon Township Board Approves Park Lease Agreement With Cedar Polka Fest, Sans Controversial Fees
The Cedar Polka Fest will move forward as planned.
At a special meeting held Friday evening, the Solon Township Board approved a lease agreement that will enable the Polka Fest Foundation to use Cedar Community Park for the popular festival in August. While the township had toyed with the idea of charging the Polka Fest Foundation new use fees to lease the park – potentially to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars – the board ultimately opted not to change the precedent established with past Polka Fest events.
In years past, the Polka Fest has been allowed to use Cedar Community Park for no more than a ceremonial $1 fee to make the lease valid. According to Lisa Rossi, executive director of the Polka Fest Foundation, the Solon Township Board has decided to keep that $1 fee arrangement. “It was decided that it's just too close to the festival to make any changes to the lease agreement fee for 2024,” Rossi shared on the Cedar Polka Fest Facebook page. Rossi had told the Leelanau Ticker last week that the Polka Fest was considering cancelling the 2024 event, depending on how significant the fees would be.
The Leelanau Ticker’s story on the potential township fees garnered significant attention last week, racking up dozens of comments and more than 100 shares on Facebook. Rossi credited the coverage for helping to bring community members out to Friday night’s meeting in droves. The meeting, which had nothing on the agenda other than the discussion of fees for the Polka Fest, drew approximately 90 minutes of public comment before the Solon Township Board made its decision.
The Cedar Polka Fest has also been given the green light by the township to proceed with a new portion of its event, dubbed “the Dog Days of Summer” and featuring doggy daycare, a dog dock jumping contest, a pooch beauty pageant, and more. The township’s parks committee had pushed back against the dog-friendly programming, noting that Solon Township’s parks mostly don’t allow dogs.
This year's Cedar Polka Fest is scheduled for August 22-25.