Aserious lack of volunteers has led to a change in plans when it comes to Ellsworth’s signature summer event, Cowtown Days.

During a March 27 public meeting in the J.H. Robbins Memorial Library basement meeting room, Jeannie Kline, chairman of the seven-member committee planning the event, said this year it will be called Rhythm and Reels, and will take place Aug. 1-3 at Ellsworth’s Preisker Park.

Kline said the committee unanimously voted at a previous meeting to move forward with the Rhythm and Reels event, regardless of the public negativity.

She noted the community enjoyed the children’s movie that was shown at Preisker Park last year (the Reels part of the new title), as well as the concert (the Rhythm part of the new title).

Kline said those two sustaining activities did not cost a lot of money and did not take a lot of volunteers.

“So we decided to move forward with that,” she said.

That’s why the group met once again March 27, to consider next steps.

Kline said this year’s celebration is not Cowtown Days for a couple of reasons.

“The primary reason we changed it was because it’s not Cowtown Days,” she said.

Kline said last year, the event was still called Cowtown Days, which, in turn, created some chaos.

“The older generation expected us to have the events at Cowtown Plaza,” she said. “The newer generation understood that something different was going to take place because it was at Preisker Park. There was a divided opinion of what should take place.”

Kline said the committee assumed that by maintaining the heritage of Cowtown Days, everyone would be excited for it.

“Well, that may have not been the best decision on our behalf,” she said. “We fell short with the number of volunteers, so we had a small group of people filling a lot of shoes. That was overwhelming.”

Elena Gonzalez, who also is a member of the Rhythm and Reels committee, along with Kline, Debbie Mai, Danielle Howard, Tammy Parris and Jennifer Young, (Ellsworth Mayor Dan Finnegan is an honorary member of the committee), said there was no Cowtown Days parade last year.

“That was major,” Gonzalez said, “because Douglas Avenue was being resurfaced and the company doing the work could not guarantee the project would be completed by the day of the parade.

“That was the No. 1 thing that I kept hearing about,” she said. “People were so upset that we did not have the parade. I don’t think they were willing to accept what we were telling them. I don’t know what they thought. That, to me, was major.”

Kline said the suggestion of having the parade route on Third Street was discussed, but that idea was nixed rather quickly because of cars parked in the street and residents sitting in their front yards.

Gonzalez said one concern raised by residents was that the businesses would not have any because of the parade.

“But I think somebody went around and spoke to some of the business people and they said they never get any business when they have the parade,” she said. “So then we really felt like there was really no need to have it.”

“From a committee’s perspective, we decided — due to all these factors — to pull the plug on the parade,” Kline said.

Kline said the committee then decided to do the traditional reenactment of the shooting of Sheriff Whitney last year, but getting enough volunteers to put on the shooting proved to be a huge challenge.

“The week before, that committee chairperson still didn’t have enough volunteers committed,” she said. “There was a just a frenzy surrounding that to make sure that activity took place. So that was all very lastminute, but it did happen — and not without a lot of stress.”

Kline said once again, there were not enough volunteers and not enough commitment shown locally.

“Getting people committed multiple years is really challenging,” Finnegan said. “Everywhere — not just here in Ellsworth.”

“It’s across the board that people are dealing with the lack of volunteers in every capacity,” Kline said, “so it’s not unique to us.”

Finnegan said the committee then put together a plan, which he described as “sort of Cowtown-ish,” and went forward with it.

“But through that, this kind of miracle occurred,” he said. “The concert was very successful. People were having fun. They loved it.”

Finnegan said the band had been well-vetted and was “next-level.”

“I think that changed everything,” he said. “The dynamics were completely different.”

That performer — Scotty Alexander — was the Country Music Artist of the Year as well as the Performer of the Year at the South By Southwest music festival in Austin.

“And it showed,” Finnegan said. “After that, it dawned on us that we found success — it was just a little bit different than what we thought it would be.”

Kline said the children’s movie was also very well-received by the community.

“The kids loved it and the parents enjoyed being able to do something with the kids,” she said.

Finnegan said that is why, ultimately, the decision was made to go with what had shown to be successful, with what could be sustained and with what the committee could potentially make money at.

“If we can do that, we can do a lot of other things,” he said. “Nobody is shutting the door down the road of a traditional festival at all. It’s just that for the next few years, we need to get on our feet, get some money going and get the momentum going. And this is going to do it, I think.”

Kline said Finnegan was determined to keep the festival going.

“I did not want to be mayor of a town that had no festival,” he said.

For this year’s Rhythm and Reels event, the plan is to show a children’s movie (to be announced) at 9:30 p.m. (or at dusk) on Friday, Aug. 1, that will last for about 90 minutes.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2, a concert will take place featuring three bands — Jared “Pete” Gile, Bailey Rae, who was a finalist on “The Voice,” and the Lazy Wayne Band, Abilene. The performers will stay at the Garden Prairie Inn, Ellsworth.

A bouncy house will also be open during the weekend as well as the splash pad. Two food trucks will also be on hand selling food (vendors to be announced).

The curfew has been extended until midnight. Beer will be able to be consumed in the park only, and the street will be closed.

Kline stressed that all activities during the entire weekend at Preisker Park are free of charge.

Activities for Sunday, Aug. 3, are still in the planning phase and will be announced at a later date.

The bottom line is, this year, there will not be the shooting of Sheriff Whitney, there will not be a parade (that will take place sometime around the El-Kan Western Riders Rodeo) and there be no 5K run. That activity has been split off from the weekend’s events and will take place at a later date, to be announced.