LEWISTON – The Festival de Joie is back in the black.

Leaders estimate that between 13,000 and 14,000 people attended the three-day festival, leading to a small profit for the first time in two years.

“The festival is in a lot better shape than it was last year,” Chairman Lionel Guay said Tuesday.

Pouring rain waterlogged the attendance numbers for the 2003 event, likely costing between 4,000 and 5,000 paid customers.

In response, this year’s festival was scaled back. The traditional four stages were cut to three. A small contingency fund was tapped.

Fortunes have reversed, though.

Leaders for the festival are still adding up numbers and paying bills for this year’s festival, held July 30- 31 and Aug. 1.

The preliminary results are encouraging, though.

“The food sales were up considerably,” Guay said. “The breakfast lines were just unbelievable.”

By the end of the second day, the salmon pies were gone.

Particularly successful were the sales of crepes. The traditional Franco-American breakfast food sold for 12 hours a day for each day of the festival.

People ate an estimated 12,000 crepes.

“Next year, we’ll be set up so that some kitchen people will make nothing but crepes,” said Guay.

Already, Guay and other festival leaders are preparing for 2005. They had their first meeting for the coming year on Monday night.

“It takes 50 weeks to make this happen,” said Guay, who is also Lewiston’s mayor. The dates are set for next year – Aug. 5, 6 and 7 – and Guay will begin booking entertainers in the coming weeks.

Whatever profits remain from this year’s event will go into next year’s.

“Everything is poured back into the festival,” Guay said.