Following hours of discussion and debate, council will not be sponsoring the Jasper Folk Music Festival.
A $3,000 sponsorship was suggested by Coun. Rico Damota, May 19, after council denied the folk festival’s application for $5,000 from the Economic Development Fund. The organization was denied because its request didn’t meet the requirements of the fund, which is for one-time purchases.
In an attempt to assist the festival, which is running without its usual grants this year, Damota suggested a sponsorship—an unprecedented proposal, as council isn’t known to sponsor events.
Damota’s suggestion resulted in hours of discussion and, on June 16, council ultimately decided not to sponsor the event because the folk festival is projecting a surplus following the September event.
“We were trying to find another way to help them out,” explained Damota during the meeting, “but when we found out what the actual [numbers] were, what they were projecting in the actual budget, they presented a surplus, so it didn’t seem feasible to sponsor them in this way.”
Although the festival isn’t receiving financial support from the municipality, there is a possibility it will receive a gift in kind following the event.
Earlier this year, the festival contacted the Culture and Recreation Board requesting it waive the rental fee for the use of Centennial Park for its Sept. 11–13 event.
Usually such a request would be at the discretion of the board, but because the cost is more than $2,500—coming in at $4,666.81—the municipality’s policy requires it come before council for a decision.
Keeping with the precedent set by the board, council voted to defer its decision until after the event, when the festival can present its budget, showing whether it made a profit. If there is a profit, the municipality will require the festival organizers pay the fee and, if not, the request will be revisited.
During the June 16 meeting, council unanimously supported a motion to put the decision back in the hands of the recreation board by pre-approving—under the same conditions—$2,200 of the fees and leaving the remaining $2,466.81 up to the discretion of the board.
That way, if the festival loses money, the rec board can waive the fee without returning to council for a decision.
Nicole Veerman
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