Businesses Rally to Throw a Downsized Festival of Fools

Burlington City Arts’ Festival of Fools will go on after all — for one day instead of three —  thanks to the generosity of local businesses who rallied to pay for it after funding losses had forced its cancellation.

The downsized free event, dubbed the 2025 Fools Block Party, will be held on Saturday, August 2. Entertainers and musicians will perform from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the Church Street Marketplace and in City Hall Park. BCA will reveal the lineup at a press conference with Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak this Wednesday, June 25.

In February, BCA announced it was forced to cancel this summer’s 18th annual festival due to budget cuts and the loss of longtime presenting sponsor Community Bank. The news was met with shock and dismay. The free outdoor event featuring world-class  acrobats, magicians, musicians and buskers typically draws 50,000 people over its three-day run, BCA communications director Elena Rosen said. Many downtown business owners call it their best weekend of the summer.

“It was an incredibly challenging decision to pause the festival, but in the position we were in, there was no other move to make,” Rosen said.

Travis Walker-Hodkin, was one of those shocked by the news. “This event is widely beloved,” he said on Friday. Skipping it for a year could make it harder to bring back, he said. So he and his brother, Allan, who own the Café HOT on Main Street, met with BCA officials and offered to help.

The brothers began contacting friends, colleagues and fellow business owners asking for donations.

“Fundraising and forming coalitions and doing any sort of public action can be a real challenge,” Walker-Hodkin said. “And this was remarkably easy in such a lovely way because anytime we reached out to people about it, they were all just like, Oh, absolutely. We want Festival of Fools.“

Of the 30-plus donors, most are downtown businesses, which have been struggling as the city confronts growing problems with homelessness and drug addiction. Protracted construction has closed streets, snarled traffic and deterred shoppers and diners, forcing businesses to cut back hours or close. Main Street in front of the Café HOT has been closed for eight months.

“It’s tough right now,” Walker-Hodkin said. Still, business owners wanted to contribute. Those short on cash offered to feed and help house performers. “One of the reasons that we and everybody else who donated to this was so excited about it, was just this idea of feeling like you’re getting something back, when it feels like we’ve had a lot taken away.”

The Fools Block Party is operating with about one-tenth of the typical $120,000 Fools Fest budget, Rosen said. “This is a real Fools on a shoestring,” she said, while offering appreciation for those making it happen. The event will primarily feature local performers, whereas previous fests also drew national and international talent.

BCA will bring big fun in a smaller package. “It’s about joy.” Walker-Hodkin said. “This is a joyful event. We deserve joy as a city. And the local businesses of Burlington were happy to donate to make that happen.”