A really concerning article on today’s BBC Scotland News webpage. All local festivals are struggling to a greater or lesser extent, and the Beltane is no different.
At the recent Annual General Meeting of Peebles March Riding and Beltane Queen Festival, the accounts of the festival showed a five figure loss for the second year running.
While the festival is thankful to have a healthy bank balance at present, a loss of this magnitude year on year means that the festival has only so many years left!
Costs have increased across the board with the addition of Health & Safety cover which in the past was able to be carried out by volunteers. One additional cost this coming year includes toilet provision being increased due to the damage at Kingsmeadows Car Park.
Our opportunities for fund raising are very much limited in the current cost of living crisis. Additionally, we have a lot less people carrying cash these days, which has hit door to door, street collections and event entry donations.
In addition, our patrons list benefits generally from an older demographic and we are sadly losing more individual patrons than we gain year on year. We have been incredibly lucky and honoured to receive a couple of legacies recently but these funds are meant for reinvestment in the festival and shouldn’t be used just to cover losses.
As you can imagine, we are planning to deliver the Beltane Festival as normal this year. However, due to the spiralling costs involved, should we continue to experience losses, the committee will have no alternative but to consider ending or reducing ceremonies and events, reduce support to principals, or reduce the numbers of bands involved on Beltane Saturday to a minimum.