A street fair welcoming the month of May in Pottsville, a tradition for the past 38 years, will continue, thanks to an anonymous donation that secured the event's insurance.
"I don't know how much the insurance is going to be. We're looking into that right now. But the donation was for the amount of the insurance," Billie Payne, chairwoman of the American Way Fair Committee, said Monday.
A week ago, Payne called off the event when she learned city Administrator Thomas A. Palamar decided the city was no longer going to cover the event under its liability insurance.
"This is good for everybody. It's good because the event is able to continue, and the city's not exposing itself to undue liability," Palamar said Monday.
The 39th annual American Way Fair will be held in downtown Pottsville from 1 to 7 p.m. May 4, rain or shine, Payne said.
Activities will include opening ceremonies from 1 to 1:30 p.m. outside the All American Cafe at 106 N. Centre St. There will be live music by The Fabulous Grease Band, based in New Jersey, and the Pottsville Area High School Band. There will be rides for children provided by Otto's Amusements, according to Payne.
"I'm still working on the schedule. I haven't pulled it all together yet," she said Monday.
"The city will be blocking off streets and offer police presence," Palamar said.
For many years, the city covered the event under its general liability insurance policy, provided by Higgins Insurance, Pottsville. Palamar said he made the decision to remove the Way Fair from the city's coverage.
When asked what prompted his decision, Palamar said the price of insurance hasn't gone up, but the troubled economy and the city's slim budget made him cautious about the city's liabilities.
"It's not a city event. It's an American Way Fair event. We had covered it in the past, but it really wasn't a good practice because it is not a city event. If you're extending your insurance to things you're not in control of, it exposes the city to potential liabilities that it shouldn't really have. And just because things were done a certain way in the past doesn't mean it's the way they should be done. This year, we required them to have an insurance policy of their own to cover the liability, but they couldn't afford it," Palamar said Thursday.
After discussing the matter with Palamar on March 31, Payne said she cancelled the event without doing research on the cost of insurance.
Such policies could start at $300, James Ryon, a partner at Richard B. Ryon Insurance in Pottsville, said Thursday. That would be a $1 million liability policy for special one-day events which don't involve the sale of alcohol, but involve 500 to 1,000 people.
"That's a rough estimate," Ryon said.