MONROE - After 11 years of entertaining folks with live music, the Monroe Lions Club's Berghoff & Blues Festival will not be happening this year.
Dick Tschanz, one of the founders of the musical event, called the festival cancellation coming on the heels of the Monroe Balloon Rally cancellation a "double whammy" for the city.
"It's a devastating blow. That's about 5,000 people who won't be coming" during a Cheese Days off-year, he said.
The cancellation is a loss to both the club and to their Green County benefactors.
"In the last 11 years, the Berghoff & Blues event has raised and put back into the community about $140,000," Tschanz said.
The number of sponsors has increased over the years. But the amount of funding has actually decreased, while costs continued to escalate every year.
The cost of the festival was $75,000 last year and was expected to reach $80,000 this year.
"As good as the community has been helping the Lions with support, the economy has reached a point where it's too much risk for a service organization to undertake $80,000," Tschanz said.
The unpredictability of the weather was another consideration for the club's board.
"We've been fortunate in the last 11 years, but it would take only one event (to get rained out) to bankrupt the club," Tschanz said.
The cancellation in light of the economic downturn, when people's discretionary money for entertainment is tight, was "appropriate," Tschanz said.
"We didn't dare raise prices. We wanted to keep this economically favorable for consumers," Tschanz said.
Tschanz said the $20 and $25 tickets were less than anywhere in the Midwest, and noted cancellations of music festivals in other cities are being considered.
Planning the festival is a year-round project, and whether the blues festival will return in 2010 is still "up in the air," with a look at the economy at that time, he said.
In lieu of the music festival, the Lion's Club is contemplating joining up in September with the tractor pull to serve food and drinks.
Dick Tschanz, one of the founders of the musical event, called the festival cancellation coming on the heels of the Monroe Balloon Rally cancellation a "double whammy" for the city.
"It's a devastating blow. That's about 5,000 people who won't be coming" during a Cheese Days off-year, he said.
The cancellation is a loss to both the club and to their Green County benefactors.
"In the last 11 years, the Berghoff & Blues event has raised and put back into the community about $140,000," Tschanz said.
The number of sponsors has increased over the years. But the amount of funding has actually decreased, while costs continued to escalate every year.
The cost of the festival was $75,000 last year and was expected to reach $80,000 this year.
"As good as the community has been helping the Lions with support, the economy has reached a point where it's too much risk for a service organization to undertake $80,000," Tschanz said.
The unpredictability of the weather was another consideration for the club's board.
"We've been fortunate in the last 11 years, but it would take only one event (to get rained out) to bankrupt the club," Tschanz said.
The cancellation in light of the economic downturn, when people's discretionary money for entertainment is tight, was "appropriate," Tschanz said.
"We didn't dare raise prices. We wanted to keep this economically favorable for consumers," Tschanz said.
Tschanz said the $20 and $25 tickets were less than anywhere in the Midwest, and noted cancellations of music festivals in other cities are being considered.
Planning the festival is a year-round project, and whether the blues festival will return in 2010 is still "up in the air," with a look at the economy at that time, he said.
In lieu of the music festival, the Lion's Club is contemplating joining up in September with the tractor pull to serve food and drinks.