A tradition in Fairport Harbor Village that started 85 years ago is coming to an end.
To be specific: Fairport Mardi Gras will take place for the last time in 2025.
Organizers of Mardi Gras announced on Jan. 30 that they’ll hold an abbreviated version of the festival on July 5. The event will mark the end of a longtime annual community celebration in Fairport Harbor Village.
“Please plan to join us for a final one-day Fairport Mardi Gras on Saturday July 5 from 5-11 p.m. as we say goodbye and ‘Thank you for the memories,’ ” the Fairport Mardi Gras Committee stated in a Facebook post.
The committee also mentioned some of the reasons why it became increasingly difficult to plan and carry out Fairport Mardi Gras in recent years.
One of the biggest problems for the committee was finding companies to provide and operate traditional amusement rides at the festival.
“Since COVID shuttered many businesses, we have been unable to secure consistent mechanical rides of the caliber necessary for a successful Mardi Gras,” the committee stated. “And despite starting to contact companies in September of last year, the outlook for 2025 is no different.”
The Fairport Mardi Gras Committee also noted that its members — who are all volunteers — performed their duties over the last few years “through Canadian wildfires with toxic air, beach erosion at our fireworks location, COVID, unethical entertainment companies, utilities issues, rides literally washing into the lake and keyboard warriors (who complained about Mardi Gras).”
In the midst of these hardships, the committee’s roster of volunteers dwindled “to just the most dedicated and determined to see Mardi Gras survive.”
“And now these incredible people who have given so much to this organization have had to make the difficult decision that 2025 will be the final Fairport Mardi Gras,” the committee stated.
The final edition of Fairport Mardi Gras on July 5 will start at 5 p.m. with the event’s annual parade.
“We would like to invite any children to decorate their bikes and lead the parade this year,” the committee stated.
The final Fairport Mardi Gras Queen judging will take place at the Lighthouse Amphitheater at the conclusion of the parade. The amphitheater is located on property next to the Fairport Marine Museum and Lighthouse at 129 Second St.
From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., the 2025 Fairport Mardi Gras will feature entertainment and food vendors on lighthouse hill and the Lake Metroparks Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park roundabout.
In addition, the festival will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the original Fairport Harbor Lighthouse on Second Street.
A fireworks display at dusk will serve as a final farewell to Fairport to Fairport Mardi Gras, the committee stated.
The roots of Fairport Mardi Gras can be traced to 1939, when a block festival was held to celebrate the paving of Chestnut Street in Fairport Harbor.
That event “has grown and changed over the last 85 years into a family-oriented, volunteer-run, annual tradition to generations, which gave back hundreds of thousands of dollars to the community, and even more in memories,” the Mardi Gras Committee stated.
While many people always will have fond memories of Fairport Mardi Gras, we also acknowledge that the event also had its fair share of critics and detractors.
Complaints about Fairport Mardi Gras were shared with a wider audience in recent years because many of those gripes were posted on Facebook.
For people who love or hate the festival, what can’t be disputed is the fact that volunteers who served on the Mardi Gras Committee worked hard to make the event successful.
It’s also worth reiterating a point from the committee’s Facebook post, which noted that the number of volunteers on the Mardi Gras Committee had shrunk to a small number.
So it seems that many critics who aired their complaints about Mardi Gras had no desire to join the committee and play a role in making the festival better.
Later this year, Fairport Mardi Gras will become a thing of the past in Fairport Harbor.
However, it’s our hope that the festival will always be remembered as a significant event in the village’s history. Mardi Gras — and its volunteers — certainly deserve the recognition.
