Flood, Change of Venue and Economy Negatively Impacted 2008 Blues Festival, Leaving Nonprofit Blues Society Singing the Blues
DAVENPORT, IA - The Mississippi Valley Blues Society today announced it is planning a fundraising campaign in an effort to raise the $100,000 in seed money required to have its blues festival in 2009.
A perfect storm of events - the Flood of 2008, change of festival venue and economic downturn - negatively impacted the Societys 2008 festival attendance and revenue, increased its costs and drained the nonprofit organizations reserve fund for deposits to secure artists and equipment for what would be the Societys 25th anniversary festival in 2009.
For 24 years, weve been in a delicate balance, teetering between affordability for festival attendees and high quality entertainment, and have been fortunate enough to place funds in reserve for seed money to plan the next years event, says Karen McFarland, Mississippi Valley Blues Festival spokesperson. The Flood of 2008 has caused such hardship for so many people, and now it appears our 25th anniversary festival is very much in jeopardy because of it.
McFarland says that in the true spirit of survival, the Blues Society is not giving up but instead planning a multi-tiered fundraising campaign. The campaign includes a membership drive, benefit concerts, auctions, grant proposals and new corporate sponsorship opportunities for the festival, such as Bandshell and Tent Stage performance underwriting, as well as headliner sponsorship packages.
Were in the preliminary planning stages now for this fundraising campaign, but wanted to get the word out to corporations to consider including sponsorship monies or a donation in their 2009 budgets, and to ask individual donors to make a contribution at our Web site www.mvbs.org, says McFarland. The MVBS is a non-profit 501-C3 organization, so all donations are tax deductible.
The Blues Societys first benefit concert is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the Redstone Room in Davenport, featuring Hawkeye Herman and Friends. Hawkeye is a blues artist formerly from the Quad-City area who now performs internationally. Show time is 7:30 and admission is $10 at the door. Another major fundraising concert event is scheduled for November.
For 24 years, the IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival has attracted local, regional and national legendary blues acts, making it one of the most highly regarded blues festivals in the nation. According to the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, the festivals economic benefit to the area is $2.5 million annually.
The IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival is one of the longest-running blues festivals in the country and is operated by an all-volunteer, nonprofit group of members dedicated to providing top-notch entertainment at a reasonable price. For more information about the festival fundraising campaign and the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, please visit www.mvbs.org or call 563-32-BLUES.
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