Former business-group head says festival coordinator not to blame for power outage; KU cites heavy demand

By Sierra McLean and Al Cross

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media

Kenny Smith, owner of Kennydid Gallery on Main Street, challenged Mayor Grayson Vandegrift’s account of the electricity outage at the Midway Fall Festival.

Vandegrift told the Midway Messenger on Saturday that the electricity outage was caused by the festival allowing too many vendors, more than its permit authorized.

Smith said Wednesday the extra 20 or so vendors could not have been the reason, because the extras were placed in the bank lot, where there was no electricity. He also said those in the bank lot should not count towards the permit number because that lot is private property, not a city street.

Smith, a former president of the Midway Business Association, said the MBA and the city upgraded the Main Street electric service for the upcoming festival, at a cost of about $20,000.

The replacement (Photo by Sierra McLean)

Smith blamed Kentucky Utilities for the outage. “KU dropped the ball because when they hooked all this up to the old transformer,” he said. “They should’ve known they were going to have a problem.”

KU spokeswoman Liz Pratt said Thursday afternoon that the transformer had been checked after the service upgrade, and “The outage was likely caused by a combination of factors” that overloaded it. She cited increased demand, partly heavy air conditioning, on a hot day. Saturday's official high at Frankfort, recorded at 3:54 p.m., was 90 degrees.

“There was a larger demand for energy than could be served by that transformer and it became overloaded,” so a KU crew installed a transformer with a larger capacity, Pratt said. While they did that, power was off to part of Main Street for 30 to 45 minutes.

Smith said he was concerned that Vandegrift was blaming Elisha Holt, the festival coordinator. “The mayor was totally wrong,” he said.

Vandegrift said, “I never intended to blame anyone, and if my words insinuated that I was, then that is regrettable, and I apologize for that. I did say previously, and still stick with my previous statement, that Elisha has a tough and thankless job and does it well. . . . But warnings from the city about the size of this year’s festival, for whatever reason, went unheeded.”

Vandegrift said, “My bottom line is that the festival was great, no doubt about it, but we need to ensure that it’s not growing too fast.” He added, “I’m extremely confident that the minor issues we had will be easily remedied.”

The mayor said he has spoken to representatives of the MBA and said they “have agreed to work with us to make sure that the festival continues to be one of the greatest in Kentucky, but that it’s also safe, manageable, and as little a burden on the taxpayers of Midway as possible.”

              

As for Smith’s criticism, Vandegrift said, “Kenny is a friend of mine, and he may be upset with me, but I believe he’s misunderstanding me, and at the end of the day, my job sometimes requires me to upset some in the interest of everyone.”

Smith and Vandegrift are familiar with the workings of the festival. said he succeeded Vandegrift, then a Main Street restaurateur, as festival coordinator a few years ago.