O’FALLON, Ill. (AP) — An annual southwestern Illinois arts festival has been scrapped over a dispute between the event organizer and the city of O’Fallon.
The Belleville News-Democrat reports that O’Fallon has canceled its late September Strange Folk Festival.
A statement on the city’s website cites “misunderstanding, rancor and conflict” and criticizes festival founder Autumn Wiggins.
Wiggins had previously told the O’Fallon Arts Commission that she planned to stop organizing the 10-year-old event in her hometown to spend more time at her St. Louis crafts shop.
Commission members countered that the city controlled the event. Wiggins sent a cease-and-desist letter after the O’Fallon parks department purchased a domain name for the festival’s website.
City parks director Mary Jeanne Hutchison told the newspaper O’Fallon wants to “regroup and rebrand and move on from there.”
