Wayland HRDEI Committee backs $12,000 town ask for 2025 multicultural festival

WAYLAND -- December 17, 2024, Wayland HRDEI Committee unanimously seeks $12,000 to fund a merged October town festival. The committee voted 10-0 Tuesday to ask the Select Board for the funding, which would combine the multicultural festival, an Arts Wayland concert and the Recreation Department's Touch-a-Truck into a single event at the Town Center. Arts Wayland board member Chris Reynolds presented an indicative budget of roughly $20,000, with the biggest line items a 40-by-100-foot tent at $3,600 to $4,200 and a stage at $3,600 to $4,100. Member Yawu Khan won an amendment adding $2,000 for performers, arguing the festival needs "semi-professional" acts representing diverse communities. Chair Karen Blumenfeld said last year's standalone multicultural festival cost $16,478. The committee also heard from Wayland Community Action Network founder Caroline Higgins on a March event tied to Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste."