Typically, area residents would not see many construction workers out along Hwys. 121 and 114 this weekend, as NorthGate Constructors eased their pace on the DFW Connector during the holiday. But a deal between NorthGate, the City of Grapevine and the Texas Department of Transportation has workers forging ahead through Saturday morning to allow the reprieve to come two weeks later.

"TxDOT is allowing NorthGate Constructors to perform lane closures during Labor Day Weekend, typically considered a no lane closure period, in an effort to minimize closures on GrapeFest weekend," NorthGate spokeswoman Kristen Schropp said.

GrapeFest 2012 kicks off Thursday, Sept. 13 and lasts through Sunday. NorthGate has committed to no full-weekend, full-highway that weekend, from 8 p.m. Sept. 14 to 6 a.m. Sept. 17. Schropp said the company would also schedule work associated with closures during times that would impact the festival least (mostly overnight), and try to avoid projects that would affect Main Street that weekend. The move was made by NorthGate and TxDOT to "be a good partner to the City of Grapevine," Schropp said.

City officials began working with NorthGate intently on plans for GrapeFest after highway closures and traffic disruptions were blamed for a 7 percent drop in attendance at this year's Main Street Days.

"When we have a bad year, it doesn't just impact the festival, it impacts the merchants and the community," said Gayle Hall, director of festivals and events for the Convention & Visitors Bureau. "So TxDOT realized the impact the closures had on the community as a whole [at Main Street Days], and we have spent a lot of time in the last 90 days figuring out what it takes to keep that from happening again."

GrapeFest is the city's most important individual event of the year, Hall said, attracting a quarter-million visitors annually. And its importance to area merchants, especially those downtown, cannot be underscored enough.

"GrapeFest, Main Street Days and the Christmas Capital of Texas — these three events a year give our merchants the revenue they need to survive the slow times," Hall said. "These can make or break our small business owners."

In exchange for the GrapeFest construction reprieve, NorthGate workers will continue projects requiring lane closures through Saturday morning. Once those projects are complete, operations will not resume until Tuesday in an effort to have as little impact on the busy traveling and shopping weekend as possible.

"Good communication and good working relationships have made this possible, and hopefully we'll see a great festival turnout," Hall said. "Now we just pray for good weather."

The $1.02 billion DFW Connector project is currently a full year ahead of schedule, with an anticipated completion date of mid-2013. For more information on closures, visit www.dfwconnector.com.