Montgomery said he talked with a number of veterans and it’s not that the veterans don’t want people using the park. They would like to see more people in the park looking at the monuments and understanding the contributions given by veterans during war.

“During events, we have people sitting on the monuments and setting drinks and food on them,” Montgomery said. “I don’t think they are being disrespectful, they’re just not thinking.”

Montgomery suggests there be fencing placed around the monuments to keep people at a safe distance from them for viewing, but would prefer if vendors were set up elsewhere.

“The (Clarion Area Chamber of Business and Industry) came to our meeting prepared to move the vendors out of the park,” he said. “But we have to worry about making sure things are OK with PennDOT for the road closings that would have to take place to relocate the vendors.”

A series of meetings have been held to address the concern, most recently on July 9, when the chamber’s festival and event director Larry Bussard met with festival and event administrative assistant Linda Skelley, National City Autumn Leaf Festival Chair John Stroup, ALF co-chair and member of the food concession committee Vicki Bartlett, as well as concessions committee members Jennifer Walter and Tony Provenzale, and county park director Mike Johnson.

The group discussed the concern and looked at alternative locations for some of the concessions.

“We are working to find a solution,” Bussard told the Clarion News. “We are not going to get rid of the front row of vendors along Main Street and Fifth Avenue .”

Bussard said the public park and the courthouse are the focal points of the downtown area, and events held there help to bring people to the area and showcase the town’s beauty.

The park has undergone some recent sprucing up, with the Civil War monument in the center of the park receiving a facelift with a deep chemical cleaning to remove grease and dirt from years of festivals.

Additional landscaping at the park is slated to be added soon.

The county commissioners hold hope that an agreement can be reached that will be equally accommodating to both sides, the community and the veterans.

 “Whether there will be tremendous change this year we don’t know,” Clarion County Commissioner Dave Cyphert told the Clarion News.

The commissioners said they had discussed various alternative locations for some of the vendors including Grant and Jefferson streets, and South Fourth Avenue between Main and Wood streets.

The commissioners said PennDOT would have to be contacted to approve any new road closures in the town.