Nearly seven weeks after the 41st Choochokam Music & Arts Festival was cancelled, organizers remain confident the event will be back on its feet when it returns in 2017 at Community Park.

Yet that assurance comes at a time when community and vendor unrest lingers in the wake of the cancellation; efforts are  underway by former foundation members Bruce Allen, Karen McInerney and Tom Moore to take control of the name “Choochokam” or, at the very least, return the event to its roots in downtown Langley. The event’s likeness is trademarked and legally owned by the non-profit Choochokam Arts Foundation. The board of directors consists of Langley residents Celia Black and Gwen Jones and part-time Whidbey Islander Michela Angelini.

Several vendors have also complained about non-returned fees for the scrubbed 2016 event.

Black, president of the foundation, said in a phone interview Monday afternoon that she had no knowledge of the efforts to claim the music and arts festival’s name, and that they do not wish to give it up.

“The name belongs to the foundation,” Black said.

In April, it was announced the music and arts festival would be moving from its longtime home of Langley to Community Park located off Maxwelton Road, a move that was split in approval by businesses and more hotly contested by residents. Three months later, and roughly a week and half before the day of the event, Choochokam was cancelled due to “logistical” problems that arose from unforeseen headaches. The issues mostly stemmed from Island County rules and regulations that governed the location, as well as time conflicts with postseason Little League games.

Black said that a finalized contract with the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District is nearing completion and will officially designate Community Park as the new home for the festival. At Community Park, Black said the festival will have room to grow with a larger capacity for vendors and stages better suited for higher-profile musicians. It will also help offset costs of around $75,000 to run the event against roughly $20,000 it receives in vendor and artist fees. The rest of the balance in funding comes from sponsorships and community contributions. Black said the foundation ran into a deficit last year after corporate sponsors backed out of the event, leaving her, Jones and Angelini liable to cover the rest. She said they did so out of their own pockets.

“We’re doing whatever it takes, even if it’s difficult for us personally,” Black said. “We need to be able to expand the place so we can have more music, because we believe music is the big draw.”

Jones, entertainment director for Choochokam, said the foundation respects the passion people in Langley have shown about the 40-plus-year-old festival. She wished for people to take a deep breath and see their intentions for the future of people in Langley as being “only positive.”

“I hope that this hubbub can soon subside so we can get focused on next year’s event that will be for the benefit of all,” Jones said.

Before and after the 2016 event was cancelled, vendors and artists have claimed they have been wronged by the foundation on social media and via phone calls and emails to The Record. The Record was only able to confirm one such example.

Karen Lipstein of Dinkey Donuts, a vendor in the event over the last decade, said she has requested but does not expect to receive her deposit of $580 back; she said she’s asked for the money back several times but her calls were not returned.

“I know they won’t return my money,” Lipstein said. “I don’t think they have any intention of returning it.”

Lipstein also said she lost 30 percent of her supplies as a result of the last-minute cancellation.

“I knew from the minute their website went down and the way they were acting, something fishy was going on,” Lipstein said.

Black said refunds are currently being mailed to vendors. Any delay is due to “deposits that we put out that we’re still waiting to get back.” A request for further comment by a Record reporter, specifically regarding the foundation’s said deposits, was declined. Black also added that she has not received evidence of the $250 which the foundation was reported as owing the city in a Record story in July. If it is proved legitimate, she said, she has no problem with paying it.

Allen, a city councilman who resigned from the foundation in July, criticized the organizers in public meetings at City Hall, going as far to say they would not be welcome to return next year.

“I was very upset with the way it was handled this last year and of course this year,” said Allen in a July 18 city council meeting. “And the people that were involved with it this year are no longer involved with it. That will not happen again.”

Multiple attempts to reach Allen for additional comment this week were unsuccessful.

McInerney, who also resigned from the foundation in July, was in favor of helping the festival returns to its roots of being an arts-centric event as opposed to its recent focus on music acts. She said the advocates for a change in leadership are putting feelers out for those who may share a similar mindset. They haven’t met in an official capacity yet, said McInerney, so all the details for what they hope to accomplish are still being ironed out. It is unclear at this point whether the trio even have a chance at claiming the name, she said. They are set on doing something, however.

“There were some people that felt it had run its course, but this is no way to end,” McInerney said.

“I’m just hoping for the best for this community, because I feel like there’s a lot of people who enjoy the traditions that we have. We need to get more people involved, rather than somebody who decides this is what it’s going to be.”

McInerney said one possibility, if they are unable to wrangle the name from the foundation, could be to create a new event with a different name that upholds the personality of the Choochokam-of-old.

“We’ve got to start from scratch and get the other thing behind us,” McInerney said.