A GoFundMe Campaign has been lunched to save the Ithaca Festival, which started back in 1977.
The festival lost $18,000 and do not have the funding secured to put on next year’s event. Organizers said they need to raise money because planning has to start almost immediately for next year’s festival.
The goal is said to be $30,000, which will cover expenses for planning next year’s event and clearing debt from the 2018 festival.
Organizers say around 42,000 people attend the festival each year. They also say that the event is fully-community funded, making it a unique one for the entire region.
Those organizers behind the festival posted the following message along with the GoFundMe campaign:
“Dear Friends and Fans of Ithaca Festival, Ithaca Festival needs your help. Since 1977, the annual Ithaca Festival has grown to become Ithaca’s largest and most diverse community celebration of “the artist in everyone” with over 80 performances, 2,200 energetic parade participants, and an estimated 42,000 visitors. Entertainment spans all of the genres Ithaca has to offer, plus children’s activities, artisans, and food vendors. The Festival is a FULLY COMMUNITY FUNDED event! Except for a few off-site events, all the performances are free to the community whose passion creates them… that’s YOU. Just this fall, Ithacans voted the Ithaca Festival “Best Community Celebration & Best Festival” in the annual best of Ithaca poll in the Ithaca Times (bit.ly/bestfest2018). As community tastes change, sales of merchandise that were once a major source of income have fallen by 80%, while costs for many essential services such as insurance and emergency responders have risen, some by 300%. Our focus this “off-season” is on achieving a sustainable level of income, thereby allowing us to ensure the continuation of Ithaca Festival (including the parade, musical performances, vendors, etc.). In the interim, we are facing a deficit that must be eliminated for the Ithaca Festival to continue in 2019. To achieve this we are turning to you, the community. If you have ever enjoyed this celebration of our city, area, people, and summertime and would like to see support of local arts continue, we need your support now. Whether you can afford $5 or $25 or $100 or something even more generous, your donation will ensure the future of the Ithaca Festival! We have loved being a distillation of all the amazing things and people that Ithaca is, and with your support we will see you again this June!”
