In my January 22nd posting entitled "Is It Time for "ELvis to Leave the Building...?" I mentioned a report in the Connection, that indicated last years Elvis Festival was anticiapted to loose somewhere around $23,000. Now, less than a month later, we have learned the loss has unexpectantly ballooned to $64,000. The reasons cited were significantly lower sponsorships and advertising revenues along with reduced ticket sales. Once again, it's taken over six months to ascertain this situation with some lingering uncertainty as according to organizers, ticket sales from last year are "...still under investigation." Why?
Clearly after over 10 years, the momentum for this event has faded and may erode even further this year given overall economic conditions. For Council to consider a "down-sized" festival for 2009 as is being promoted is questionnable in the wake of this latest financial revelation. I urge them to stand-up and as with any fiscally repsonsible organization make a sound business decision. No one has the luxury these days of operating money loosing entities especially with your money and mine. Council needs to shutdown this financial boondoggle and focus their attention on what's really inportant to the community as a whole rather than just a select few business segments that benefit from this venue.
No comments:
Post a Comment