One now reads – sadly, any normal person might have expected – that the promoter of Jefferson Wisconsin’s shabby Warriors & Wizards festival faces the prospect of felony charges for theft and misrepresentation.
See Warriors & Wizards Fest organizer Cramer charged with theft.
1. Unfortunate, All Around. I’ve been a critic of this festival, and those who flacked it year after year to the detriment of families who were duped into attending a shabby show. (I’ve experienced no loss; what matters is that no one else should have.). And yet, and yet – although families and vendors have collectively lost several tens of thousands, it’s also sad – truly – that the promoter has placed himself in this position.
2. Jefferson’s City Administrator. Reporting now and in the past contends that “Jefferson City Administrator Tim Freitag has acknowledged being aware of the festival’s fiscal issues prior to the Oct. 19-21 event.” One may be thankful Freitag’s not a heart surgeon.
3. Where Boosterism Leads. The latest story comes from a paper – and a former reporter for that paper – who wrote more than one favorable account of the festival despite problems that Jefferson’s own residents mentioned repeatedly on social media. The former reporter – who was ironically the paper’s crime reporter, now writes of where this story has led: to an account of a criminal matter. Perhaps if the paper had earlier been more skeptical (as residents were) vendors wouldn’t have staked and lost as much.
4. Edgerton, Wisconsin Said No More. Before this event was a shabby Warriors and Wizards Festival, it was a Harry Potter Festival in Edgerton, Wisconsin. Two years of that proved enough for Edgerton, and that city’s administrator (Ramona Flanigan) passed on further sponsorship. Smart, very smart. Flanigan was sharp to say no mas, and she’s an uber-genius when put beside Jefferson’s city administrator.
These rural communities deserve much better than a debacle like this.
Previously: Attack of the Dirty Dogs, Jefferson’s Dirty Dogs Turn Mangy, Thanks, City of Jefferson!, Who Will Jefferson’s Residents Believe: Officials or Their Own Eyes?, Why Dirty Dogs Roam With Impunity, Found Footage: Daily Union Arrives on Subscriber’s Doorstep, Sad Spectacle in Jefferson, WI (and How to Do Much Better), What Else Would a Publisher Lie About?, Iceberg Aside, Titanic‘s Executive Pleased with Ship’s Voyage, New Developments About Jefferson, Wisconsin’s ‘Warriors & Wizards’ Festival, and Roundup on Jefferson, Wisconsin’s ‘Warriors & Wizards’ Festival.