Changes are on the horizon for Tecumseh's Corn Festival.
Council unanimously agreed to eliminate serving alcohol at the 42-year-old festival, hours are being amended, and the festival will now be managed by the town's parks and recreation department.
Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti says the Cornfest has been operating in the black for several years now, and the town hopes to keep it that way. Cornfest usually starts Thursday and closes Sunday night at Lacasse Park but that's going to change.
"One of the recommendations was to go from four-days to three-days, minus the Knights of Columbus Festival Tent ... they indicated this was their last year," says Bachetti.
Mayor Gary McNamara tells AM800 News, with recent tragedies revolving around drinking and festivals, liability is always an issue.
He says the beer-tent isn't what Cornfest is all about; there are plenty of other area festivals dedicated to food and drinks.
"Realistically the festival is about corn, it's about families, it's about entertainment, and now what you're going to see is that we're really going to focus on the family aspect of the festival," says McNamara.
He doesn't think the exclusion of a festival-tent will have a serious impact on attendance.
"We're getting more young families that are coming, they're not going to patronize the festival tent," says the Mayor. "Thursday night for example, you could have shot a cannon through the tent, there was nobody there."
With the cancellation of the festival-tent, Cornfest will close by 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights. Previously the festival would close at 10pm, but the tent would continue to serve later into the evening.
A report will be brought to council after next-year's Cornfest assessing the changes.