The End of Celebrate Fairfax

The Celebrate Fairfax! Festival is not happening in June, and it doesn't seem like it's coming back. The Celebrate Fairfax, Inc. (CFI) organization posted this message on Facebook last month:

Similar to many other organizations we are embracing change as we evolve. Along those lines, we will not be hosting the traditional Celebrate Fairfax! Festival at the Government Center. Instead, we will be focusing more broadly on Fairfax County as a whole, by bringing a part of the festival into each of the County districts. This approach allows us to focus more intently on our mission and our ability to truly celebrate the 1.2 million citizens of Fairfax County!

With the CFI organization pivoting to other events, I think it's safe to assume that the formerly annual festival is over. 2019 marked the 38th year of the festival and my 18th year being involved with the event. The festival didn't take place in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, and it's difficult to see how the festival can resume after a 4-year layoff. It would basically be starting over since many attendees, sponsors, and volunteers have moved on. More importantly, Fairfax County transferred a portion of the Government Center parking lot to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority to potentially develop affordable housing. I'm not going to criticize the county for this decision. The Government Center campus has a lot of unused space for 11+ months of the year. Plus, affordable housing is certainly challenging in Northern Virginia. Although there hasn't been any development on the site yet, and I can't seem to find any information about the status of the project, the housing will take up a significant portion of the festival site. 

So what is CFI doing instead of the festival? The organization created "shop local" market events with exhibitors in the Tysons areas and is planning on hosting an event for dogs (and their people). All of these events and a few others on the schedule are on a much smaller scale than the Celebrate Fairfax! festival or even the Fall for Fairfax children's festival. I understand that the organization is doing what it has to do to survive, but I'm going to miss the festival. I really enjoyed seeing the same volunteers, staff, and vendors each year. I looked forward to taking my kids to the event and watching them experience different parts of the festival as they got older. Plus, it was the only place where you could see national musical acts along with entertaining up-and-coming acts for under $15. This is a huge loss to the Northern Virginia community. There just aren't any other events on this scale in the area.

I wrote dozens of posts about Celebrate Fairfax over the years, and if you have nothing to do for the next 1-30 minutes or so, please check them out here. Some "highlights" from reading these posts are remembering when Flavor Flav provided commentary to fireworks, taking Pedro Tulo to the first-aid tent and subsequently in an ambulance ride to the emergency room for a burned hand, and saying hi to Pat Benatar's husband, Neil Giraldo, in a restroom.