Lafayette Council postpones decision on Freedom Festival

Organizers for Lafayette’s annual Honeybee Festival made the decision to cancel the 2020 event back in April amid uncertainty surrounding the festival due to Covid-19-related issues, but the fate of the city’s 2020 Freedom Festival is currently still up in the air.

May 11’s scheduled City Council meeting, held via video and phone conference because of the continued regulations put in place by local and state governments, saw the council and Mayor Andy Arnold discuss possible Covid-19-related issues associated with holding the annual festival this year.

However, the council ultimately decided to postpone making a decision on the festival as they await further word from the state and Gov. Brian Kemp on what restrictions might still be in place and which ones might be rolled back by the time the festival arrives. The Freedom Festival is held each year on the Friday before July 4, meaning July 3 would be the date of this year’s event.

Kemp’s executive order of a public health state of emergency due to the virus is set to expire May 13 at 11:59 p.m., unless renewed. That executive order included things such as government-operated public pools and live performance venues, among other locations and businesses, where large crowds would gather.

The council chose to wait until the next regularly scheduled meeting on June 8 to make a decision, though leaving open the possibility of calling a special meeting before that date to decide what to do about this year’s version of the popular event.

The annual Freedom Festival is free to the public and generally begins at 5 p.m. and concludes with fireworks around 10 p.m. Last year’s schedule included vendors, an old timer’s baseball game, a cornhole tournament, an eating contest, a pro wrestling card, free swimming at the Recreation Department pool and concerts.

The Honeybee Festival, which had drawn tens of thousands of people to the city in its three years’ of existence, had been slated for June 13.