Politics & Government

Dixon City Council Allocates $4,000 to May Fair Parade

The Dixon City Council awarded a grant of $4,000 to the Dixon Chamber of Commerce to help facilitate the May Fair Parade

The Dixon City Council last night breathed some life into a beloved event that many Dixon residents look forward to each year. The Council, by unanimous vote, agreed to give the Dixon Chamber of Commerce a grant that will allow them to hold the Dixon May Fair Parade this year.

The grant is in the amount of $4,000 and comes from the city’s General Fund. For the past few years, the Dixon Redevelopment Agency granted the chamber money from its coffers to fund the parade and had allocated $7,000 to it this year.

But when Gov. Jerry Brown called for the doing away of redevelopment agencies in the state, Dixon’s RDA voted to allocate a little over $1 million – what was left in its fund – to the Core Area Drainage Project. The move protected Dixon’s RDA funds, but left no room for smaller projects such as the parade.

Find out what's happening in Dixonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Chamber Office Manager Carol Pruett spoke to the council last night and presented them with what she called a “bare bone” budget. The budget cut out many items featured in parades of the past, according to Pruett.

“I have cut the prize money in half and eliminated plaques,” Pruett said.

Find out what's happening in Dixonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In addition, Pruett said she is ordering fewer shirts this year and eliminated trophies to everyone except the group of volunteers known as the Equestrian Patrol, the volunteers who follow behind the horses at the parade and clean up after them.

Pruett said that the chamber has also thought of ways to raise revenues by raising the entry fees. The amount that the council was being asked to approve was in the amount of $3,700, but council members Dane Besneatte and Michael Ceremello presented the idea of rounding up that figure to $4,000, which fellow council members Thom Bogue and Rick Fuller along with Mayor Jack Batchelor agreed to.

Although the money awarded to the chamber will be a big help, Pruett said she wouldn’t know the actual profit-loss margin of the parade until the day after it takes place.

In other Council action, the Dixon Redevelopment Agency voted to quit claim of two properties that are being used by the Dixon Police Department and the Engineering Department to the city.

The properties – the land that the police department is built upon and the engineering building – were purchased by the city, said City Attorney Michael Dean, and were put into the name of the RDA. Dean said that if RDAs are dismantled, the succeeding oversight agency will unlikely ask for the land to be sold because it is providing vital city services.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Dixon