Unlike others, I believe the negative press about the 2006 Tracy Dry Bean Festival is on target. I come from the school of thought that says if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you call it what it is — a duck. The festival was a disappointment on many levels. There are merchants who are upset (rightly so), and there are residents who are upset.

The Tracy Chamber of Commerce board made a big deal in the weeks leading up to the Sept. 9-10 festival about the focus on local downtown businesses and the goody bags that would be passed out to all attendees, saying the bags of coupons would help people feel better about having to pay the $5 entrance fee. I never saw the goody bag that promoted coupons for local Tracy businesses.

Too bad, as I am the perfect target audience. I am relatively new to Tracy and do not know that much about the downtown. That is why I was doubly surprised with the setup of the festival. The vendor tents blocked most of the downtown, so I never really saw what it had to offer business-wise. I was also disappointed by the lack of genuine arts and crafts-type booths, the overabundance of food and commercial-type booths and the lack of beans. After all, this is a “bean festival.” What beans are grown in Tracy I still do not know, but maybe it was in the goody bag I did not get.

I was so disappointed with the festival that I wrote to Dan Maloney, chamber executive director. That was two weeks ago, and I have yet to get a response. It appears that the chamber is going to have more than internal issues if it ignores or dismisses its customer base.

The chamber leadership sold its members and the residents of Tracy a bill of goods, making promises it did not keep. I would like to see some answers from the chamber the concerns and questions raised in the last few weeks about the festival’s finances, the set-up, the money for charities, the lack of beans and the lack of appealing vendors. All should be a real concern for the chamber and its members as they look ahead to next year’s festival.

It does not bode well for Tracy to have such issues at the forefront of what otherwise should be a fun and successful event. The falling attendance speaks volumes, and the chamber needs to listen or the future of the festival could be in jeopardy. I will think twice about attending again, and I am not the only one who feels this way.