Chad Whitacre, a Park Road resident, volunteered to conduct a survey, which found that half of residents support relocating the festivities to a parking lot owned by St. Mary's Church while the other half who responded are against the move.
Whitacre said the chamber held an informal meeting Sept. 27 with residents to present a proposal to move Nationality Days. At the meeting, Whitacre was asked to conduct the survey.
Whitacre said he prepared a letter and delivered it to households on Oct. 17, then spent the next three weeks visiting residents. Out of 41 non-vacant households, Whitacre said he made contact with 30 and 22 agreed to participate in the survey.
Of those who responded, 11 households were in favor, 11 households were opposed and eight abstained.
"It basically came out 50/50," he said.
Chamber officials told council last year that they wanted to move the festival to Park Road for several reasons, including more visibility and crowd control. Council members said the move was presented too late in the year and plans to move were put on hold for the 50th anniversary.
"We gave Paul Mitchell, the president of the chamber, our blessing that we will work with him diligently to try to get Nationality Days up and running at Saint Mary's," Mikulich said.
But Mikulich said the parking lot is privately owned, so the chamber will also have to work with St. Mary's.