No 2024 Black Diamond Days in Gillespie

May 22, 2024 84

GILLESPIE — Event organizers of the Black Diamond Days in Gillespie have decided there will not be an event this summer.

The decision was not taken lightly, but the biggest issue contributing to canceling the event was due to logistical issues.

The planning committee for the summer event had already made plans to bring back the festival to downtown Gillespie after several years of holding it at the Old Gillespie Lake.

“The committee was able to get permission from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to temporarily close a portion of Illinois Route 4 to accommodate the event,” said committee chairman Landon Pettit. “That permission came too late for the committee to contract with a carnival to provide rides and games.”

The Gillespie City Council voted last fall to petition IDOT for permission to close the street running along Route 4. However, Pettit noted that IDOT did not approve the request until March. By that time, the committee was unable to secure the services of a carnival company for the event.

With that unfortunate revelation, instead of operating the festival without a carnival, the committee opted to cancel this year’s event.

Pettit was ambitious about planning for next year’s event, as he said the committee will be looking to contract with a “good show” to provide rides and games for festival attendees. Residents might be able to see elements of the festival similar to its previous tenure downtown, such as a beer tent, nightly bands, and local food vendors near City Hall.

Black Diamond Days started more than four decades ago but was canceled in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A volunteer group attempted to revive the festival in 2021, relocating it to the lake for the first time.

Pettit noted that the planning committee was told at one point in time that once the festival left Macoupin Street, it would never be able to return. The rationale behind it: IDOT would not grandfather the city’s petition to close the street for the event.

Contrary to those initial statements, the committee would discover that the city could still seek a temporary closure for the vicinity of Route 4. At that point, plans were being made to return the festival to its original venue in the downtown business district, where it was held for nearly four decades.

The festival was held at Old Gillespie Lake for the past three years, but a last-minute cancellation would force the festival to go on without a carnival last year. As a pivot move, the committee brought in inflatable bounce houses to entertain younger festival attendees. Unfortunately, festival attendance would decline.

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Jake Leonard

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.