One of the county's best-known celebrations will take on a different feel this summer as organizers take a step back to rebuild.
The Potomac Celtic Festival, which was first held in 1994, has been a summer staple for Loudoun County residents, but on Sept. 17, Hugh G. Colston Jr., president of the Potomac Celtic Alliance, posted a letter on the festival's Web site announcing the cancellation of the 2007 event.
"Unfortunately, over the last few years the festival has not been self-sustaining," Colston said in his letter. "Attendance and sponsorship have both dropped, requiring us to draw on our financial reserves to meet our obligations."
Colston added that the festival is now in "dire financial straits" and that there is not enough money to support the festival the way it has been presented in the past.
Instead of putting on a full festival this summer, the alliance is taking 2007 as a rebuilding year, in which they will focus on fund raising, looking for volunteers and restructuring the festival.
MANY FACTORS led to the financial situation of the festival, Patty Kloss-McKay, the alliance's secretary said, including a drop off in attendance and an increase in expenses.
"Within the last couple of years we have seen rising costs and a decline in revenue," she said. "But we didn't want to change the face of the festival."
Kloss-McKay said that the alliance has cut internal costs of the festival over the past few years, including hospitality supplies for the festival's many vendors and performers, but it was not enough.
"We need a certain amount of money to set up for the next year," she said.
One of the founders of the festival, Bernard Argent, said that following 9-11, attendance at many large events fell off.
"It became tough to bring people out," he said.
Indeed, last summer's festival brought out between 8,000 and 9,000 attendees, down from 2005's attendance of 10,000 people. However, even 10,000 people could not compare to the more than 22,000 people who came out during the summer of 2001 at the festival's peak.
While Argent, Kloss-McKay and Barbara Ryan, the festival's other founder, still consider recent years successful, with positive reviews and happy attendees, they said the revenue was just not enough to begin planning for 2007.
"There comes a point where you have to be realistic," Kloss-McKay said.
ANOTHER LARGE factor in the festival's money problems, was the loss of a grant that organizers received every year through the Loudoun Conventions and Visitors Association. The grant, from the Transition Occupancy Tax Fund, provided festival organizers with a majority of their money each year. The money comes from a tax hotels in the county levy on their guests, Argent said, and is fed back into events and things that encourage tourism in the county.
"When the grant ceased to exist, there were tens of thousands of dollars that ceased to exist," Kloss-McKay said.
While Ryan said the grant is mostly intended for the marketing of events, the money worked as a resource for planning future festivals and was replenished with money made during the annual event.
In addition, in the 13 years that the festival has been held, many board members, including founders Argent and Ryan, who work only in an advisory capacity now, and volunteers have moved on to other opportunities. The changes in leadership have made it even more difficult to respond to the changes occurring around the festival.
"On one hand they don't know the ins and outs of putting on a festival," Ryan said, "but they also bring new ideas and energy to the table."
WHEN THE ANNOUNCEMENT first came about the festival's cancellation, Kloss-McKay said the response was overwhelming, with both residents and participants expressing their sadness.
"We thought we have to have something," she said. "We wanted to have something to let people know we are still around."
This year the alliance is planning a smaller, one-day event so residents can still enjoy what the festival has to offer. Kloss-McKay said the event will have music, dancing and as many of the festival's vendors as possible. Although a location for the smaller festival has not been selected yet, Kloss-McKay said she would love to be able to stay in Loudoun.
"We've been in Loudoun for so long, we're committed to the county," she said. "We are very happy that it has meant so much to so many people and we don't want to let the community down."
"So many people here do absolutely love it," Ryan said. "So let's hope."
ONLY TWO WEEKS ago the alliance heard from the Loudoun Conventions and Visitors Association that the festival's original grant had been reformed under a different name and that the alliance would be able to apply for money once again.
Kloss-McKay planned to submit the alliance's grant application Nov. 17 and hoped that any money it received would be able to be put toward the 2008 festival.
"Whether we get the grant or not we will have something here," she said. "It is something worth saving."
To help raise money, festival organizers are planning fund-raising events during the year, including a benefit concert. The concert, which is being scheduled for February, will be held at the Institute of Musical Traditions, which is directed by Argent and Ryan. As part of the concert, Kloss-McKay hopes to be able to hold a silent auction, which will include items from some of the festival's vendors.
"We want to continue to raise community awareness," said. "We are committed to rallying the community."