By Wood Alter.
Candler Park’s Fall Fest needs no introduction within the pages of the Messenger as we look forward to celebrating its 24th iteration this October.
We all know what it is, don’t we? An annual festival, held in the fall, where the neighborhood gets together to celebrate with music, art, food, drink, and festivities, hosting neighbor and newcomer alike.
What about a tour of homes on the same weekend? Or a 5k race? Is Fall Fest still Fall Fest without these events?
OK – an annual festival, held in the fall, where the neighborhood gets together to celebrate with music, art, food, drink, and festivities (including a tour of homes and a 5k race), hosting neighbor and newcomer alike.
Let’s start over:
Candler Park’s Fall Fest needs no introduction within the pages of the Messenger as we look forward to celebrating its 21st iteration this October. What happened?
Fall Fest’s age depends on how you look at it. A Candler Park Fall Fest that includes a tour of homes and a 5k as part of the festivities (an event the December 2004 issue of the Messenger refers to as “FallFest+”) dates back to 2004 with Mark Clement as its chair. The children of today know no other Fall Fest, but many of their parents may remember the spectacular Fall Fests from 2001 to 2003 with a separate tour of homes in December and no 5k at all.
And FallFest 2001, the true start of FallFest, was indeed spectacular: distinct neighborhoods for markets, artists, music, food and children, projected to draw in 5-8k guests, a reported 84 artists and vendors in attendance. The Indigo Girls even put on an impromptu two-song set to close out Sunday night!
Bert Bellinson, the chair of Candler Park’s Fall Fest during its inception in 2001, had his mind set on creating a Candler Park Fall Fest since he moved into the neighborhood in 1999. According to Curt Flaherty’s article “Fall Fest Kudos And Commentary: Thank You, Bert Bellinson! Shame On You, Candler Park!” in the November 2001 Messenger, Mr. Bellinson organized FallFest “…with sadly little help from anyone else.” Mr. Bellinson himself assented he was the “driving force behind [making Fall Fest 2001 happen],” but he gladly gave credit to the other key players who helped him get the tradition off the ground: Mr. Flaherty himself, helping with operations; Robin Bellinson handling PR; Mark Clement managing music; and Heather Flaherty attending to finances.
Mr. Bellinson moved from Candler Park to Ohio in 2003, ending his run as Fall Fest chair. When asked about his legacy as the progenitor of Fall Fest, Mr. Bellinson stated “I was so proud of the fact that we left a good base for [Fall Fest]…. We made money for the neighborhood, and we brought people into Candler Park who didn’t know it existed.” Mr. Bellinson expressed that Mark Clement took the base established in the years 2001–2003 and “…just blew it up – he did a phenomenal, phenomenal job.” When asked about his run as Fall Fest chair, Mr. Clement stated how important it was to him to keep the tradition going, adopting the dogma “never miss a year.”
If we trust Mr. Bellinson, the de facto founder of Fall Fest, that Fall Fest truly began in 2001, then what does it mean when he said “Candler Park Fall Fest is back and bigger than ever!” in the October 2001 Messenger?
Earlier issues of the Messenger refer to the Candler Park and Lake Claire Music & Arts Festival, an event that Beth Martin, owner of Donna van Gogh’s, created. According to Richard Quartarone in his BOND Community Star article in 2000, Ms. Martin “got together with her friends and organized a small neighborhood artist and music festival in Candler Park” in 1995, and she grew the festival each year until canceling it in 2000 due to logistical and financial concerns. The Candler Park and Lake Clair Music & Arts Festival had the neighborhood get together to celebrate with music, art, food, drink, and festivities — this sounds familiar.
Assuming Mr. Bellinson’s own language to recognize Fall Fest as existing prior to 2001, Fall Fest will be celebrating its 35th year in some form this October. Now that we’re no longer bound to semantics, what do we make of the Candler Park Festival/Concert documented in the June 1991 Messenger? The June 15th event included “5 bands, artists, and food” – not in the fall, but the other trappings are all accounted for. Or what of the unnamed fall festival circa 1975? According to an article written by festival coordinators Judie Keith-Gott and Linda White (scanned article provided by Mr. Clement, publication unknown, date unknown), the day’s activities included a Halloween parade starting in Little 5 Points, a foot race, a “Pumpkin Patch Carnival”, food, drink, music, arts, a volleyball tournament (that Candler Park placed second in), and many more festivities. Surely there is no need to define Fall Fest again, is there?
While Mr. Bellinson has since stated he always planned on making a Candler Park-specific fall festival (“rebranded as Fall Fest”) and saw the cancellation of the Candler Park and Lake Claire Music & Arts Fest as an opportunity to do so, clearly the roots of our annual fall festival go back much further than this latest, and wildly successful, version’s beginning. With all that said:
Candler Park’s Fall Fest is an annual festival, held in the fall, where the neighborhood gets together to celebrate with music, art, food, drink, and festivities, hosting neighbor and newcomer alike. We look forward to celebrating the 24th year of its current form this October, and for many years to come. While the festival may change in size or name throughout the ages, it is the neighborhood and the residents that make it special. To quote Judie Keith-Gott and Linda White, “The community and friends made the festival work, so let’s get together next year and do it all again!”
(Special thanks go to Roger Bakeman for this article. He provided the seed of the idea, the historical documents and contact information necessary to help it grow, and the guidance to help it bear fruit.)