A city councilman has dropped his plans to wrestle the reins and rights of Choochokam, and instead decided to create an entirely new festival.

Bruce Allen, a former member of the Choochokam Foundation, said plans to host a music and arts festival on the streets of Langley the weekend after the Fourth of July are in motion. He also confirmed that he’s abandoned previous efforts to take control of the Choochokam name to avoid “bad feelings” about the event and give it a fresh start. Though he expects it to be smaller in scale than previous Choochokam events, Allen said he and over a dozen residents and businesses would like to see a festival return to downtown.

“I’ve been doing [Choochokam] for a long time,” Allen said. “It’s been a really big part of the city of Langley and I think it needs to stay that way.”

The new event has the approval of Choochokam organizers Gwen Jones and Celia Black.

“I totally support Bruce and what he wants to do,” said Black in a phone interview Thursday. “It sounds like we’re both working toward the same goal, which is a greater Whidbey Island.”

Black and Jones said it was unfortunate that Allen felt Choochokam’s reputation has been hurt.

“If there’s a few people who think the name is tarnished, then I do think they are fewer than those who are excited about next year’s festival,” Jones said. “We’re not getting any complaints on our end. I haven’t had a complaint for quite some time.”

Allen said he will be alone in the effort during the early planning stages. He said he is currently garnering interest for a prospective board of directors for the event in the hopes of creating a non-profit organization.

In April, Jones and Black announced the 41st annual music and arts festival would be moving locations and changing the date of the event in an effort to help it expand. It was later cancelled in July due to logistical problems.

But while Black and Jones say complaints are few, The Record has received nearly a dozen phone calls and emails from vendors and artists who claim they are owed money for booth fees. They also expressed frustration with a lack of communication by the festival’s organizers. The damage was enough to shake the trust of two previous vendors of Choochokam: Ann Haines, a jeweler from Port Orchard, and Vicki Wickell, a Port Townsend-based artist.

Haines said she might return if the event has a proven track record as well as positive treatment of vendors. She felt the charm of the city was unaffected. Haines said she was owed $365 by Jones and Black, but was paid back on July 14. Haines is the only vendor among those who contacted The Record that has been paid back.

“The city isn’t tarnished; I have no ill will toward any other entity in the city,” Haines said. “But, it would feel risky to send my money in.”

Haines added that a hurdle Allen faces is the loss of vendors and artists who have already found a replacement festival for the weekend after the Fourth of July.

Wickell said she is still owed $380 by Jones and Black. She said a change in leadership might persuade her to return.

“If he can guarantee that they will be directed by somebody entirely different and on the old weekend, [my husband and I] would not be opposed to joining the show again,” Wickell said.

She also felt an effort on Allen’s part to return money owed by Jones and Black to vendors and artists would also go a long way in her coming back.

“We do not do this for fun, but for our living,” Wickell said. “Whoever it is, if they can find some way to twist it out of those people, we would all think highly of him and give him strong consideration.”

Allen is not deterred by the shaky odds. He said the first step will be apologizing to affected vendors and artists via letters in an effort to start anew. Both Haines and Wickell said apology letters would help in mending the broken relationship.

“I’m sure some people would never come back here,” Allen said. “You got to start from somewhere. I don’t expect it to be a huge event, but I can build on it.”

“We have to start by apologizing for what happened,” he added.

Allen said the name of the new event doesn’t necessarily need to be anything fancy; it could be as simple as “Langley Arts Festival.” In fact, it’s not that far off from Choochokam’s original name. Gary Piper, who helped create Choochokam nearly half a century ago, said the name of the first-ever event was “Langley Arts & Crafts Festival.”

Piper said he would support the proposed festival.

“If they go in a new direction, I would be supportive of it,” Piper said. “I’ve always liked new activities in Langley. Sometimes new participation and all that kind of stuff is good.”

Callahan McVay, owner of Callahan’s Firehouse Studio and a lead organizer of the Second Street Dance, said he was neither for nor against a festival taking Choochokam’s place in downtown Langley. He said from an economic development standpoint, Choochokam did little in driving business to his shop.

Lorinda Kay, program manager for Langley Main Street Association, was receptive to the idea. She said she heard that some businesses were negatively affected by Choochokam’s departure, and the return of a similar event would help in replenishing that business.

“I think if there’s a group of people who are interested in working at that and creating it in the streets of Langley, that would be great,” Kay said.