On Tuesday, the Olympia City Council voted 5-1 to approve Option A, a funding recommendation from the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC), which includes $25,000 in funding for the annual Lakefair event.
However, the approval comes with a contingency: that Mayor Dontae Payne and City Manager Jay Burney must first meet with Lakefair organizers to discuss unresolved issues before the contract is finalized.
The Lakefair Festival has not received support from the lodging tax program for two consecutive years due to concerns over diversity and representation, particularly the organization’s application process in its Royalty Court pageant.
Olympia Economic Development Director Mike Reid reported that LTAC received a record 30 applications for 2025 funding, totaling $1.2 million in requests. The city council was presented with two options for allocating the lodging tax revenue to support local events and festivals. Option A included funding for the Lakefair Festival, while Option B would withhold support.
At the Finance Committee meeting on Monday, Councilmember Jim Cooper, who chairs the LTAC, said that the advisory committee wanted to include Lakefair in the funding list for 2025.
Cooper confirmed that the city had not funded Lakefair for the past two years, as former Mayor Cheryl Selby and Burney had indicated then that there needed to be more discussion to ensure the event's organizers were aligned with the city's values and priorities.
Cooper explained that he had conveyed to the LTAC members that the conversations between the city and Lakefair organizers had not continued, leaving the city without a clear answer on the event's alignment.
"My recommendation to the lodging tax committee was to leave it out," Cooper said, adding, "[the LTAC] members wanted a recommendation to come to the city council with Lakefair in it."
Cooper added that he had convinced the LTAC to include a conditional recommendation for Lakefair funding: the organizers would meet with the city manager and the mayor to address the outstanding issues and demonstrate greater alignment with the city's values.
Finance Committee Chair Lisa Parshley expressed concern about the "lack of communication" from Lakefair organizers regarding the pageant, or the Lakefair's Royalty Court, which she described as the "pinnacle" and top representation of the festival.
Parshley noted that the people chosen for the Lakefair court and queen are meant to represent the event, both locally and when traveling to other fairs.
"If we have not gotten to a point where diversity and equity have been, not just talked about, but fulfilled, it is hard to spend money because that goes against our values," said Parshely, who admitted feeling a "tug of war."
Burney confirmed the conversation with the Lakefair organizers, noting "we didn't leave that meeting feeling good about progress."
Burney added that the Lakefair organizers had discussed providing training and adding South County schools to diversify the pageant participants, "but in terms of some of the other things that we were asking about and we're concerned about, we've not gotten a great answer."
During the city council discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Yen Huynh expressed her inclination to support Option B, which would have reallocated the $25,000 intended for Lakefair to other applicants.
“I very much have enjoyed going to Lakefair growing up and I would like for it to still be around. I really appreciate that it brings in a really diverse crowd,” Huynh said. “But I also take issue with the way that the Lakefair Board has treated our former mayor and city manager in past discussions trying to resolve this issue.”
Huynh felt that enough time had passed without clear resolution on the organization's previously raised diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns.
Parshley supported Option A, saying it would give a leverage point for productive conversations between city officials and Lakefair organizers. “I wanted to give the mayor and city manager the freedom to pursue forward that is real.”
Councilmember Clark Gilman cautioned against broadly criticizing the entire Lakefair Festival. He emphasized that the disagreement was specific to the pageant and did not reflect broad issues with Lakefair or its attendees. “Several people have mentioned that the crowd who attends Lakefair is one of the most diverse gatherings we have,” Gilman said. “I just don’t want to broaden this criticism of the event.”
Payne believed that approving Option A and providing an opportunity for the mayor and city manager to have discussions with Lakefair organizers could encourage progress. “I want us to move forward… if we can be part of helping them, get to a point of improving their efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion, then we should at least leave the door open for that to potentially happen.”
The city council approved Option A, so the mayor and city manager must have productive conversations with Lake Fair organizers to address unresolved issues before committing the funds.
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Claire
Diversity and representation? Get over it! This ideology is why Trump won. When will these idiots realize the truth that is staring them in the face?
Wednesday, November 20 Report this
OlyBlues
Sounds like the city really needs this lodging tax for such critical government services. These kind of fluff, unnecessary taxes are why people do not trust government. What a total waste of money.
Thursday, November 21 Report this
BillString
More misspent money, while the homeless are squatting on every corner and the roads are full of potholes.
Thursday, November 21 Report this
DavidAlbert
They seem to have done fine without City funding for two years, and little progress was made on the issues being dealt with.
With all the needs of the City, why is this even being considered? (I don't like A OR B.)
Thursday, November 21 Report this
Chris_R
Where did the money go in prior years when they didn't give it to Lakefair?
Thursday, November 21 Report this
Boatyarddog
Lakefair is A Dead Weight to Olympia.
It represents a Very Small Portion of Olympia.
I Support Diversity and Inclusion, these are Important to Our Community as a Whole.
Saturday, November 30 Report this