Despite a bit of difficulty maintaining fiscal sponsorship, this year's Magnolia Summerfest will still bring a diverse array of events and entertainment to the community with slight cutbacks.
With the same expenses as last year, sponsorship is down about $5,000, according to Summerfest chair Heather Ussery. Costs include fire department, parade and festival permits, as well as expenses for the stage, sound and garbage disposal.
"Funding through sponsorship is tough, and usually it's the same people. So especially with things as they are this year it was hard for people to give money," Ussery said. "We barely scraped by."
The main source for funding an event like this comes from community participation and sponsorship, Ussery said.
"This is a great community event, and the Magnolia community looks forward to it every year. But we need people participating and spending money. It makes it so we can have this every year and give back to the community," Ussery explained.
The shortage of funding led to a few cuts-including a later start for the Children's Entertainment Tent (noon for Friday and Saturday) and scaled-back Main Stage performances.
Apart from shortening stage entertainment to partial, instead of full days, the festival moves forward with its usual variety of enticements, and one new tradition-a pie-eating contest sponsored by Seattle Pie Co., Magnolia's newest restaurant.
This year's Summerfest also partnered with Sustainable Magnolia to green up the event and features an increase in vendors.
"It's more than we've ever had," Ussery said. "Normally, we have about 20; we have more than 40 scheduled this year, including commercial, nonprofit and craft booths."
Of those booths, 17 are dedicated to art and craft vendors, and 17 food booths offer a smattering of a summer day's fair food-from snow cones and caramel apples to barbecue meats.
Pet parade
The pet parade and costume contest joins the parade for its fifth year, and competition starts young with Racing Babies-where babies unable to walk are enticed to crawl down a strip of grass by their parents on the other side.
Though memories of last year's Racing Babies makes Ussery laugh, she said she looks most forward to the performance of Soul Purpose-a recurring favorite for the community with its funky soul rock jams from the '60s and '70s. Soul Purpose performs on the Main Stage at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, next to the beer, wine and margarita garden, which is mardi gras themed this year.
Art show
The art show will focus on presenting varied and financially attainable artwork.
Alex Strazzanti of Oasis Art Gallery organized the art segment of Summerfest to be four-pronged this year, with a juried art show for youths and adults, fine-art vendors, an affordable art section where items under $100 will be sold, and craft booths for youthsand children. This year's juried art show includes a new category, video shorts of two minutes, and will present prizes in a variety of categories.
For Strazzanti, meeting fellow artists and feeling the pulse of the local art scene is the most exciting aspect of the festival, but the festival's real appeal, he said, is the diversity.
"Of all the events I've been to, there's something for everybody [at Summerfest]. They really do kind of bring a little bit of everything to the festival, and the parade's a big draw, too," Strazzanti said.
Saturday begins with the Kids Parade at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Summerfest Seafair Parade-one of the larger community parades throughout the Seafair events of summer.[[In-content Ad]]
