Organizer of the 2021 Folk Festival, Nancy Paddock, was in attendance to the CAPC workshop on July 8 to give an update on how the festival was progressing.
Paddock said that she was in talks with Main Stage to provide an indoor venue, that the Auditorium show was booked but that she was still looking to book a Friday show. She explained that the Nov. 10 – 14 Folk Festival had lost its audience and that they need to make the most of the event to rebuild its brand.
Paddock also explained that she would be looking for sponsors to help ease the Folk Festival budget. She said that she was looking for around $1,000 to cover expenses for a show at Main Stage as well as a sponsor for Greg Brown, an artist she felt that they could get in for a Friday show at the Aud.
Chair Jeff Carter said that the commission may take interest in allocating money to sell tickets for a show and the commission even toyed with the idea of holding a free Thursday show. A free show would mean that the CAPC could only earn money from concessions, but with having a surplus in the budget, commissioners seemed open to the idea.
Commissioner James DeVito voiced hesitance to a Thursday show saying that in the past Thursday shows have not done well. Commissioners Carol Wright and Melissa Greene said they were willing to try Thursday night entertainment with tourist visits being more distributed throughout the week since the summer of the 2020.
After that update to Folk Fest, the commission moved to speaking on the Auditorium, which is need of a deep cleaning as well as quality of life improvements. There was discussion of an elevator and chair lift to be installed, as well as improvements to stairs to the basement of the Aud.
Commissioners discussed the need for the curtains to be cleaned and fireproofed and a bid for that work has been put out.
The workshop moved to a swift special meeting where DeVito, with Greene seconding, nominated Jeff Carter to Position 1. Greg Moon was absent for both the workshop and special meeting, and commissioner Bobbie Foster was the only dissenting vote.