Fair questions. Here are the answers. In a nut shell, Irish Fest isn't free because we don't want it to suck. We're going to spend right around $600,000 this year to throw this party. Let's look at that number again. Six. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars. Yes, we have wonderful, generous sponsors whom we love madly. Our gratitude to them knows no bounds. But sponsor support covers only about a quarter of our operating costs. We spend close to $100,000 annually on entertainment alone. We have one salaried employee, and believe me for the work we ask of her, she's ridiculously underpaid. The money we take in goes back to operating costs and back to you through our community grants. I tell you all this only because I know I'll get asked those questions 50 times in the next week and I only want to answer it once. Call it a preemptive strike.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Money
Last week, someone mistakenly claimed here that Irish Fest had raised its ticket prices this year. Which is not true. As I pointed out then, we've never raised ticket prices. Still, I know there are some of you out there who wonder why can't Irish Fest be free? I've been to other festivals are that are free, you might say. Don't your sponsors cover all your costs? Are you all getting rich off this thing?
Fair questions. Here are the answers. In a nut shell, Irish Fest isn't free because we don't want it to suck. We're going to spend right around $600,000 this year to throw this party. Let's look at that number again. Six. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars. Yes, we have wonderful, generous sponsors whom we love madly. Our gratitude to them knows no bounds. But sponsor support covers only about a quarter of our operating costs. We spend close to $100,000 annually on entertainment alone. We have one salaried employee, and believe me for the work we ask of her, she's ridiculously underpaid. The money we take in goes back to operating costs and back to you through our community grants. I tell you all this only because I know I'll get asked those questions 50 times in the next week and I only want to answer it once. Call it a preemptive strike.
Fair questions. Here are the answers. In a nut shell, Irish Fest isn't free because we don't want it to suck. We're going to spend right around $600,000 this year to throw this party. Let's look at that number again. Six. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars. Yes, we have wonderful, generous sponsors whom we love madly. Our gratitude to them knows no bounds. But sponsor support covers only about a quarter of our operating costs. We spend close to $100,000 annually on entertainment alone. We have one salaried employee, and believe me for the work we ask of her, she's ridiculously underpaid. The money we take in goes back to operating costs and back to you through our community grants. I tell you all this only because I know I'll get asked those questions 50 times in the next week and I only want to answer it once. Call it a preemptive strike.
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