photo by: Nick Krug

Legendary funk artist George Clinton raises up the crowd as he performs with P-Funk as part of the Free State Festival, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 outside the Lawrence Arts Center.

You never know what type of lesson you will learn by attending a Lawrence City Commission meeting on a Tuesday evening. This Tuesday, the lesson may very well be this: Funk doesn’t grow on trees. It takes money to do the funk.

All this talk of funk has to do with the Free State Festival, the growing music, film and cultural event that was headlined by George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic this summer. Well, work is underway to plan the 2016 festival, and while George Clinton likely won’t be on the schedule, you can bet the event will be funky nonetheless. But organizers of the event are now saying Lawrence City Hall needs to significantly increase the funding it provides to the festival.

At its Tuesday evening meeting, the commission will be asked to approve $100,000 in funding for the festival, which is up from $60,000 this year and $20,000 in 2014. As I said, funk doesn’t grow on trees.

photo by: Nick Krug

Legendary funk artist George Clinton raises up the crowd as he performs with P-Funk as part of the Free State Festival, Wednesday, June 24, 2015 outside the Lawrence Arts Center.

One other thing about funk: It keeps a tight calendar. The Lawrence Arts Center — the lead organizer for the festival — is drawing a hard line on the need for more city funding. Art Center CEO Susan Tate wrote in an Aug. 10 letter that she needs a decision by Sept. 15 — that’s tomorrow — on funding for the festival, or else the festival will be canceled in 2016. She wrote that if the funding issue is delayed past that date, it becomes too difficult to plan the festival.

It will be an interesting issue to watch. The festival is asking for $100,000 in transient guest tax funds. As part of its 2016 budget, the city has created a grant process for events to seek transient guest tax dollars. The entire grant program has a budget of $150,000, and it hasn’t yet begun to accept applications. I’m not sure whether it is being proposed that the $100,000 for the festival come out of the new grant fund or if the city would just find $100,000 in transient guest tax dollars elsewhere. I doubt the Arts Center cares how the city comes up with the money. But commissioners will need to figure out whether they are going to award money from the grant program before it has even begun, or whether they are going to exceed the 2016 budget by $100,000 before the new year has even begun.

Part of the reason the Arts Center is asking for more city money is because it doesn’t expect to receive as much grant money for the festival as it has in the past. The festival is budgeting for $50,000 in grants compared to the $75,000 in grant money the festival received in 2015 and 2014. But another reason the festival is seeking more city dollars is because it wants to have a larger budget. The 2016 festival is seeking a budget of about $400,000. The 2015 festival had expenses of about $335,000.

Commissioners meet at 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday at City Hall.

In other news and notes from around town:

• It soon will be fall in Lawrence, which means at some point in time we are all required to consume large amounts of food and beverages on a city street that has been closed down for a party. (When city engineers started talking about “road diets,” I thought that is what they meant. I flipped my lid when I thought people were going to start serving turkey brats.)

Well, city commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday are scheduled to approve a host of events that will take place on city streets. Here’s a quick look:

photo by: Nick Krug

Spectators line the streets as the 2014 KU homecoming parade marches north on Massachusetts Street on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, in downtown Lawrence.

• Oct. 30 is the date for the KU Homecoming parade in downtown Lawrence. The parade is set for 6 p.m., but look for a party zone on the 100 block of Eighth Street. The city will allow the section of Eighth Street between Massachusetts and New Hampshire to be closed from 1:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. for the party zone and pep rally. (The party won’t be for the entire period. The time of the street closure also accounts for set-up and tear-down.) The city also is set to approve a permit for a beer garden as part of the event. That seems to be an important component of KU football these days.

• On Oct. 4 a portion of Massachusetts Street will be closed for the Lawrence Bicycle Club’s Octoginta ride. The section of Massachusetts Street from 11th to 13th streets will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. to allow for bicycle staging. That is a Sunday morning, but city officials are promising access to all the churches in the area will be maintained.

• Just to prove that you don’t have to be downtown to throw a street party, city officials will close a portion of W. 29th Terrace on Oct. 2 for a fundraising event for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Board. The LMH board is hosting its first Rock the Block – Kick Cancer Event. The section of West 29th Terrace that will be closed is from Iowa Street to Four Wheel Drive. That is the section of road that runs through the Lawrence Auto Plaza.

photo by: John Young

Competitors in the Kansas half marathon turn the corner at 7th and Massachusetts Street, running past the historic Eldridge Hotel in November 2014.

• On Nov. 1, Health Care Access is seeking permission to temporarily close various streets throughout Lawrence on Nov. 1 for the 2015 Kansas Half Marathon and 5K Run. The fundraiser for Health Care Access will begin and end at Watson Park near Sixth and Kentucky streets. The bulk of the event is expected to occur between 7 a.m. to 11 am.. That is a Sunday morning, so event organizers are being asked to contact area churches to ensure the race won’t impact access to church properties.

Click here for a look at the map for the half-marathon course. Click here for a look at the map for the 5K course.

In addition to the necessary permits, organizers of the event also are asking the Lawrence police and fire departments to donate services for the event, such as traffic control and medical standby services. The fire department estimates its costs will be about $2,200, while police estimate their costs at $6,000.

Ladies with the Saralee Garren-Victorian Ladies Club, Oskaloosa, ride in the annual Lawrence Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade.

• Last but not least, mark you calendar for Dec. 5, if you are a fan of horses and carriages traveling down Massachusetts Street. Organizers for the Lawrence Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade are seeking a permit for Dec. 5 to use Massachusetts Street from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. to accommodate the horse-drawn Christmas parade.