A social media post circulating Wednesday inaccurately described a discussion that took place during Tuesday's Geneseo City Council meeting, claiming Geneseo Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lindsie Akers "pitched" moving Music Fest downtown.
A review of the meeting video shows the discussion unfolded differently.
During questions following Akers' Chamber report, Council member Brett Barnhart introduced the topic by asking whether the Chamber had considered rebranding Music Fest. Barnhart said he would personally like to see the event held more downtown and become more involved with downtown businesses.
Akers responded that the Chamber had held a post-event recap meeting after this year's Music Fest and had discussed a variety of ideas for the future.
Barnhart: "Have you guys thought about... rebranding it a little bit? ... I personally would love to see it more downtown and more involved with the businesses. Is that something that's being discussed? I mean, when we don’t talk about ideas we start to stagnate."
Akers: "Yeah, we had a big recap meeting after Music Fest about how we should do a big rebrand of it. So we tossed around ideas of bringing it downtown. We're leaning more into the actual music side of it and maybe bringing in some larger names and stuff. So we've got a lot of ideas in the works for next year."
The exchange begins at approximately the 4:00-minute mark of the City Council meeting video. Watch the exchange here.
The meeting record shows that Barnhart—not Akers—raised the idea during the council meeting. Akers' response confirmed that a possible downtown location was one of several ideas discussed during the Chamber's post-event recap, along with placing greater emphasis on the music portion of the festival and exploring the possibility of attracting larger musical acts.
No formal proposal to relocate Music Fest was presented during the meeting. The discussion was preliminary and centered on ideas that have been suggested as planning begins for future festivals.
Chamber responds
After learning of the social media post, Akers provided the following statement to The Current:
"The idea came up during questions after our Chamber report, and we confirmed it was one of several ideas that have been suggested. No proposal has been made and no decision has been made. The Chamber's purpose is to support local businesses, and that's the lens we bring to any idea we're part of. We also understand and respect how much Geneseo's traditions mean to this community."
The Current reviewed the full meeting recording before publishing this fact check. While opinions differ on whether Music Fest should evolve in the future, the meeting video shows the idea was introduced by Barnhart during council questions—not by Akers during the Chamber's report.
