Little: Blame for festival's exit misplaced

SANDPOINT — The former executive director of the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce is taking exception to some of the remarks made by founders of the Lakedance International Film Festival in the wake of their departure from Idaho.

Amy Little said she was saddened to learn the film festival was pulling out of town and moving to Edmonds, Wash., but was disheartened to hear that they blame part of the reason for their leaving on the chamber.

Festival co-founder Trevor Greenfield said earlier this week that the chamber’s withdrawal of its support of Lakedance was the straw that “broke the camel’s back.”

Little explained that the chamber did not renew its sponsorship because Greenfield and his father, Fred, ignored requests for the documentation required by the Idaho Travel Council for the chamber’s $1,000 sponsorship.

“The hoops that they say we made them jump through are the very same hoops that other events must also jump through but have no trouble in doing so,” Little said in an e-mail to The Daily Bee.

Little said the only reason the chamber was able to receive state funding for the sponsorship was because the of paperwork she submitted. She said the Greenfields blew deadlines to provide the documentation, which jeopardized the chamber’s grant funding and its credibility.

The documents included advertising tear sheets showing how the $1,000 sponsorship money was spent.

“I informed the Greenfields in January that because they could not and would not produce the documentation telling the state how the money was spent that I would be unable to support them again this year,” Little said.