Festival's rainy day fund dries up

SANDPOINT — The Festival at Sandpoint’s rainy day fund evaporated as the annual concert series ate up the remainder of a $300,000 cushion this season.

Fundraising is going to be instrumental in the coming season’s success, said Executive Director Dyno Wahl.

“Our rainy day fund really turned out to be a rainy day fund,” she said, referring to this year’s season, Aug. 5-15, in which rain bogged down last-minute ticket sales.

When the Festival started the 2007 season with a $300,000 rainy day fun, the board opted to spend about $110,000 on its 25th anniversary, field improvements that included a new speaker system that allowed moving the Festival tent further east for more seating space and purchasing musical instruments to fulfill its education mission.

The board believed large balance in its rainy day fund might impair its ability to raise funds, Wahl said.

As the economy has slowed, a trend has emerged in which waited later and later to purchase tickets, most likely contributing to weak walk-up and last minute ticket sales.

Wahl said four factors contributed to the fund’s depletion during the past three years — rainy weather, the economy, the nonprofit’s 25th anniversary and an investment in field improvements.

While the rain cleared up in Sandpoint during the Festival’s first week, surrounding areas were plagued by turbulent weather which put off potential concert goers, Wahl said.

“In some cases, we were actually a donut hole,” said Wahl,  explaining that it “rained all around us, but not on the field.” People did not risk driving from Clark Fork or Spokane, where it was raining to attend an outdoor concert in Sandpoint, she said.

Although the Festival raised less money from corporate sponsors this season than in years past, it still received more money in that category than projected.

Coldwater Creek also played an important part for the 2009 season, contributing $25,000 to the concert series.

Wahl attributes that to recognition by local businesses of the economic boost the event provides to the community.

“People see it as an investment in their business,” she said.

Three years ago, the Festival conducted an informal study of its direct economic impact on the community and estimated it at $3 million.

This season’s fundraising efforts included an unexpected, but very needed surprise — individual contributions were much higher than projected.

While listening to Donovan Frankenreiter perform, Wahl said she wondered why so many people would turn out for a concert when they most likely own three or four of the performer’s CDs.

What she concluded is that it provides contact not only with friends, but also a connection between the performer and the listener that does not exist when listening to music at home.

“It’s an affordable piece of joy,” she said.

Unlike year’s past when poor weather and high expenses came close to derailing the organization altogether and the organization owed a lot of money to local businesses, the Festival is in good financial shape, Wahl said.

It can pay its bills, unlike other musical festivals which have went under or incurred massive debt because of the economy, she said.

“We are amazed that we have weathered the economic storm,” Wahl said.

In fact, she believes there are signs that the coming season will be much better financially than the past two. Business owners she has spoken are indicating the economy is beginning to improve, Wahl said.

What they did not anticipate was 2008’s economic downturn, she said.

Festival staff will focus fundraising efforts on Holly Eve and its upcoming wine tasting auction, Wahl said. It also has received a $11,210 grant from the National Endowment  for the Arts and Idaho Commission on the Arts via Stimulus funding.

 That money is for the 2010 season for continuing employment of people working in the arts. It was the largest award given to an arts organization in Iaho.

Concert goers should not expect to see any noticeable changes in next season’s Festival, Wahl said.

The season will still take place over eight days. It also will feature one tried and true country act, along with a new up and coming act to appeal to a younger audiences -— a formula that has worked well in the past, she said.

The 2010 Festival season runs Aug. 5-15. So far, organizers have booked one opening act for the concert series.