Reduced budget won’t dampen festival, organizers say

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 16, 2014
By Simone Joseph

Last year’s rainstorm came close to decimating the Thornhill Village Festival.

“We came close to cancelling it,” said Robb Stitt, acting chair/treasurer of the festival committee under the Society for the Preservation of Historic Thornhill.

The rain dampened attendance at last year’s festival resulting in a loss of about $10,000.

This year, the festival has a smaller planning committee, as well as a reduced budget, but the fun will still bring the community together, organizers say.

Due to lost revenue, the festival committee has eliminated the parade, which has been fixture in the festival.

“This was not a decision taken lightly, but after the financial rain disaster of 2013 and a declining size of committee, it had to be,” states a press release from festival organizers.

Other cost-cutting measures include only using Markham, and not Vaughan streets, at next weekend’s festival.

Last year, the committee’s budget was more than $60,000. This year, it is about half of that.

The size of the planning committee was reduced from 20 to 15 people this year.

“To lose three or four people has a big impact,” says Shawn Sussman, festival chair and music co-ordinator.

Sussman believes people may have left the committee because of the many roadblocks with which the committee has dealt.

“It has been a logistical nightmare working with multiple municipalities,” Sussman said. “We lost money. It is one added stress our committee doesn’t need,” he said.

One contributor to the festival’s reduced budget may be the increasingly high cost for vendors wanting to join the festival.

It is the festival’s responsibility to make sure every vendor has insurance, Sussman said. Otherwise, a city inspector would tell the vendor to leave.

So vendors have to pay for both a booth and insurance.

Administrative red-tape has sometimes proven to be a difficult irritant in planning the festival, according to Stitt.

“We are one of the few festivals in Canada that had to deal with three municipalities (Markham, Vaughan and York Region) and all of the different rules and regulations,” he said.

Sussman says he and other organizers don’t want to paint the municipalities as “the bad guys”.

“They have really tried to work with us. They have gone above and beyond to try to save the festival,” Sussman said.

He believes the event, set for Saturday, Sept. 20, is really worth saving.

“It really brings the community together,” Sussman said.

 The festival committee has decided that there will be no official entrance fee. A voluntary donation may be placed into one of the collection buckets located at the four entrances to the festival.

 Yonge Street will be the centre of entertainment, while the side streets of Old Thornhill will host craft, community and commercial booths interspersed with food vendors and music.

The official opening will be on the Vaughan Showmobile at 11:30 a.m.

The Vaughan Showmobile will be the site of several events, including a performance re-creating Frozen, plus a chance to meet and greet Elsa and Anna after the show. The showmobile will also be the venue an interactive musical performance with prize give-aways and dance-off contests.

Go to thornhillfestival.org for more information.