WEST TOWN — Remember those summer street festivals?
Thanks to suggested donations at fest gates, dedicated areas for kids' activities and strong beer and wine sales, the West Town Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors were able to give over $52,000 to three neighborhood schools and two nonprofit organizations.
The presentation of the big oversized checks took place this month on the playgrounds of La Salle II Elementary School, 1148 N. Honore St.; Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy, 1840 W. Ohio St.; A.N. Prizker School, 2009 W. Schiller St., Erie Neighborhood House, 1347 W. Erie St.; and at nonprofit group, The Arts of Life Inc., 2010 W. Carroll St.
Kara Salgado, executive director of the West Town Chamber of Commerce, who presided over the check delivery, said the group "was thrilled to be able to give back to the community."
"The festivals are not only fun, they are economic development tools that draw thousands of consumers to the commercial corridors, they attract new business to West Town, and they have this direct positive impact on local non-profits and schools in the community," Salgado said.
The money was significantly more than in 2015, when the Chamber donated more than $13,000 to partnering local schools and non-profits; and in 2014, when the group donated around $18,000.
Salgado said the increase in giving in 2016 was attributed to the fact that the Chamber now runs and benefits from the festival beverage, beer and wine sales; and those proceeds are now factored into its overall net and hence the benefactor donations have significantly increased.
The West Town chamber, a local non-profit as well, also benefits from the special events and raises the bulk of the chamber operating and member programming budgets from festival fundraising, Salgado said.
Check out the money local schools received from the summer street festivals:
La Salle II PTO netted $31,148.87 from Do Division & West Fest.
Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy received $7,225.37 from West Fest.
Friends of Pritzker School got $6,977.87 from Do Division.
Erie Neighborhood House received $2,470.61 from Do Division.
The Arts of Life Inc., a nonprofit group, saw $4,494.00 from the Renegade Craft Fair & West Town Food Truck Social.
The other non-profits such as Erie Neighborhood House and Arts of Life provide volunteers and partner in some way with the Chamber to produce and license the events, and in exchange get a donation from festival proceeds, Salgado said.
The reason why La Salle II Magnet School received more money than the other schools was because they were able to do the paperwork for the Chamber's non-profit liquor license for Do Division and West Fest.
"We used their 501c3 status to apply for the licensing, thus they got a bigger percentage benefactor deal. We plan to rotate that opportunity to the other schools involved annually," Salgado said.
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