County of Grande Prairie councillors have pushed a sponsorship funding request for the 2020 Bear Creek Folk Fest to their upcoming budget deliberations, but it will come with one big caveat.
Organizers with Bear Creek Folk Festival presented their case to council earlier this week, and while attendance numbers, including claims of upwards of 5,000 attendee’s a day, they were unable to provide bottom-line numbers.
Reeve Leanne Beaupre says whether the event ended up making or losing money will go a long way in any potential decision.
“That’s the key behind the financials, We don’t know if they did or didn’t. We’d like to see the financials to make sure we’re not spending taxpayer dollars on a for-profit organization.”
Beaupre says the organization behind the folk festival has done great work in the region, including allocating a high number of tickets to not for profits for their events.
She adds in the end, the right decision will be made with the entire region in mind, as events like the Bear Creek Folk Festival help bring a spotlight to the region.
“Evergreen Park is an example [of] when we have events in the County of Grande Prairie, the City of Grande Prairie benefits, whether it’s through economic development or name recognition,” she says.
In 2018, the city allocated $87,500 from the Large Scale Tourism to help fund the event.