Sisters Folk Festival folds its tent

After losing money for two consecutive seasons the Sisters Folk Festival will be absent from Sisters' event schedule in 1999.

"The festival is going dormant for at least one year," announced Dick Sandvik, festival director and chair of its board of directors. "We will stay incorporated as a 501(c)(3) (nonprofit organization) and will probably have some conversations about ways to restructure the festival."

In its four-year history, the Sisters Folk Festival has only sold out one concert, when Ian Tyson performed at Sisters High School in 1996. Since then, the event has consistently lost money, which Sandvik attributes to declining attendance.

Sandvik was hopeful for 1998, with a promising lineup of performers scheduled for Labor Day weekend and enhanced marketing efforts over the previous year.

"We set an objective for '98 to put on a good family-oriented show at good prices to (generate) seed money for 1999," he said.

The festival association also hoped this year's profits would pay off a private loan that covered 1997's loss.

The board was also supportive of generating seed money for some type of event center in Sisters.

"The 1997 festival lost a significant amount of money," explained Sandvik. "Then in 1998 we got very good support from local businesses and we hit our target for fundraising, but we fell short with ticket sales.

"Maybe we're offering something the market doesn't want," he said. "This festival, properly run, could succeed here, but it would definitely have to draw attendance from outside Central Oregon, and marketing would be the key."

Sandvik also cited a lack of administrative leadership as a key motivator for their pending hiatus.

"It's more than money," he said. "It's the amount of energy it takes to run an event like this. You need someone to administer the (festival), and nobody wants to take lead responsibility for 1999."

He praised his fellow board members for their commitment to the festival but commented that "full-time staff support" was needed to keep the event profitable.

The festival experimented with hired assistance for the first time in 1998 when they enlisted the expertise of Kyla Merwin of the Central Oregon Environmental Center.

Merwin coordinated much of the event's fund-raising activities.

Sandvik also lauded Merwin's support efforts, but he felt the group got too late a start to raise the funds necessary to cover contingencies.

"She did remarkably well with the time available, but we didn't really start fundraising until May, (missing) the window for lots of companies," he explained.

Sandvik was philosophical about the event's future and about the potential for cultural activities in Sisters.

"The event is not necessarily dead, even for next year," he said. "We're not sure whether to make it bigger to attract more people or make it smaller to make it less of a cost challenge.

"Cultural tourism is a great form of economic development and there's no reason why Sisters couldn't be a destination like Jacksonville (with the Britt Festival) or Ashland with Shakespeare," he said.

"(That is) my ultimate ambition for Sisters."