This year's Monona July Fourth festival was slated to be its last. Residents want to save it

Longtime Madison residents Sherrie and Roger Volbrecht attended the Monona Fourth of July festival for more than 10 years. Sometimes they were people watching. Other times they brought their grandchildren.

They were shocked and saddened when they learned this year’s festival would be the last. “That’s another tradition in Madison that’s going away,” Sherrie Volbrecht said.

The Monona Community Festival has taken place around the Fourth of July in Winnequah Park for about four decades, featuring live music, a beer tent, carnival rides and fireworks. It has its roots in Monona Fun Days, which dated back to the 1960s.

But on June 24, organizers announced this year’s edition would be the final festival, a casualty of a volunteer shortage and costly new city fees.

Eric Redding, president of the Monona Community Festival planning board since 2019, said a team of 20 core planners and volunteers had over time dwindled to just seven. They were stretched too thin to keep the event going.

The festival’s final run Wednesday and Thursday included rides, music and fireworks, as well as a cornhole competition, drag bingo, a classic car show and an art fair. Food carts selling carnival staples — shaved ice, hot dogs, funnel cake — lined the park.

Some long-running events, including a keg toss, had to be retired due to the volunteer shortage, but the festival still drew dozens of vendors, musicians and competitions.

Karen Crown and John Wanserski’s Monona-based Creative Juice had one of the 60 vendor tents on the grounds Thursday, selling handmade stone and glass jewelry, pots and incense. They’ve sold at the Monona festival a few times and were surprised it was ending, given the large crowds they regularly saw.

“But it’s a lot of work to put on something like this, and volunteers just don’t get the credit they deserve,” Crown said.

Redding chose 2024 as the final year because he wanted it to end while volunteers could still put on a large event.

“We’d rather go out on a bang with a big party than see the festival slowly fall apart” over the years, Redding said.

Residents hope to save festival

But there was a new addition to the festival lineup this year: flyers scattered across the grounds soliciting volunteer signups and donations to a fund to save the festival.

The day after the board announce the festival’s impending demise, a group of volunteers formed a Facebook group, SAVE the Monona Community Festival, to rally support for keeping it alive. Since June 25, the group has grown to more than 600 members.

Redding knew the festival had an impact on the community — it drew 20,000 to 30,000 attendees to the city of less than each year — but he was surprised by the outpouring of support after the announcement.

“Just seeing the number of people reach out and thank us and be sad to see it go has just really been amazing,” Redding said.

SAVE recently launched a survey asking members what they would be able to contribute to the festival, including volunteering, fundraising and donating to help cover costs. The group hopes to put together a team that can take the reins from the current volunteers, said Shane Ebel, a member of both the festival board and the Facebook group.

“There’s a lot of hard work that is done. It’s the people who need to go and do it,” he said.

If SAVE is to succeed, Redding said it must fill the shortage of volunteers and cover a fee Monona City Administrator Neil Stechschulte said would be $21,500 in 2025.

Expanding the festival’s network of sponsors and seeking tourism commission money from the city of Monona could cover the fees, Redding said, but the more pressing challenge will be to find enough volunteers. The event is organized over the course of a year, with planning for next year’s festival starting mere weeks after the tents come down.

Redding is “cautiously optimistic” about the prospect of reviving the festival under a new team of volunteers. The festival board plans to hold a community meeting in a few weeks to speak with the group about taking over planning and operating the festival.

And this year’s festivalgoers, including the Volbrechts and longtime attendees Judy Kurtz and Pam Anderson, said they would love to see it or a similar celebration return next year.

“I love this country, so events like this are a wonderful celebration,” Kurtz said.

In whatever form it eventually takes, the Monona Community Festival will live on, Redding said.

“One thing I’m sure about is that there will be something next year,” Redding said. “The three core pieces of the festival are the beer tent, the live music and the fireworks. And I feel confident those things will happen.”