"A story of 1,000 heroes"
Katie Watterson (left) addresses the Wallace City Council concerning the Wallace Music Fest. The council expressed their sincere gratitude for Watterson's (and many others' efforts) to put on a music festival after it was announced that the Wallace Blues Festival had been canceled. Also pictured (from the left) are Prosecutor Ben Allen, Councilwoman Michele Bisconer, Councilman Rick Shaffer, City Clerk Kristina Larson, Wallace Mayor Lynn Mogensen, Councilwoman Cindy Lien, and Councilman Elmer Mattila (not pictured is Councilman Rich Matrisciano).
JOSH McDONALD
WALLACE –– City leadership expressed their support for the upcoming Wallace Music Fest during their monthly council meeting on Wednesday night.
Event organizers Katie Watterson and Barbra Strother had gone before the council seeking approval for a few street closures and detours to accommodate what they hope will be a large turnout. They didn’t leave the meeting with just the council’s approval, but also their sincere gratitude.
“I just want to commend you guys for all the work you did in such a short amount of time,” Councilwoman Michele Bisconer said.
Watterson and Strother deflected much of the praise from themselves and onto the community and the collective of people who rallied together after the announcement was made that the blues festival had been canceled.
“It was really the most amazing thing to watch the entire community, the businesses, individuals coming together to make this happen,” Watterson said. “This is an important event for a lot of business. This is the weekend where they recover from an entire winter of losing money and this is the first weekend where they’re in the black again.”
As word spread about the blues festival, local businesses immediately began feeling the negative financial impact, specifically Wallace’s hotels and other lodging options.
Councilman Rick Shaffer, who also manages the Wallace Inn, told the council that people did cancel reservations at the hotel, but the new festival is drawing people back.
“The calls are coming back in for reservations, so the word is getting out,” Shaffer said. “It’s not where we want to be, but it is what we want – A community event.”
More than anything, it was the galvanization of the Wallace community that impressed the council most.
“Barb, Katie, Marcy (Hayman), Siobahn (Curet) have all really stepped up and brought the community together,” Councilwoman Cindy Lien said. “In a week they have taken a disaster and brought it to something that everyone is looking forward to. Thank you so very much for doing this.”
Beyond clearing various hurdles like event insurance, garbage and sanitation, the group also managed to put together a comprehensive plan to mitigate traffic through much of the downtown area while also communicating with the businesses who could be affected by the street closures.
That communication and planning was praised by the council.
“There have been so many people who have played crucial parts, that if that one person hadn’t completed that one task none of this would’ve happened,” Strother said. “This is a story of 1,000 heroes.”