Sunday’s Barrington Arts Festival had so much going for it — large crowds, diverse food trucks, artists and artisans, live music, good people and great atmosphere. It had one major flaw — parking.

The festival itself consumed the entire parking footprint at the complex that is home to Barrington Town Hall and the public library, and there are no public parking lots and few residential streets within reasonable walking distance of the festival.

There are, however, at least a dozen privately owned shopping plazas, stores, banks and businesses in the immediate area surrounding the Town Hall complex, and most of them were overrun with the parked cars of festival visitors. It makes sense that Barrington residents, left with no other option, flooded into those plazas, but it was unfair to the many businesses that were disrupted on what could have been a productive Sunday.

Those lots are private property, owned or rented by the storefronts, eateries and businesses of the downtown district. In order to operate properly and fairly within their rights, they deserve to have their adjacent parking areas free for customers. By locating the arts festival at the Town Hall complex, the town is creating this problem for some of its longtime community members and taxpayers.

There are ways to fix the situation next year and in years to come. If the festival remains at its present location, the town could place some of the festival’s attractions within the impacted shopping plazas. Given the opportunity to partner with the town, these businesses might join the fun with their own retail and food booths, or they could simply benefit from the foot traffic and visibility of the large crowds.

The town could also move the festival to another location — one with significant public parking and large available spaces. Haines Park, Barrington High School and Barrington Middle School all seem like reasonable options. Each could handle a large influx of visitors and a large footprint for a sprawling event. All of these locations have the added benefit of being located close to large residential areas, which would reduce the parking demands and invite people to walk, bike, ride or roll to the fun.

Overall, the festival is a great thing for Barrington, but not for all in Barrington. A few local businesses were disgruntled and displaced while the rest of the town was having a good time.