RUMFORD – The Moontide Water Festival Committee, which spent about $40,000 to host the annual July 4 bash downtown, remains in debt to the tune of $22,000.
According to Joseph Roberts, president of the committee, the cost of this year’s event will be less than in previous years because of cutbacks. The committee is now considering trimming the event to a single day, held on July 4, to minimize expenses.
Much of this year’s celebration has been paid for through fund-raising activities held during the past few months and from proceeds from the three-day event itself. However, the committee still owes the town $7,000 it was loaned to pay off a 2004 debt and owes $15,000 to Telstar Displays of Jaffrey, N.H., for fireworks.
Roberts, who called tallying receipts from the celebration a “monumental undertaking,” said the precise cost of the event will be calculated by the end of this month.
Each year, Rumford has donated $10,000 to help fund the celebration because selectmen believe the event is important for the area. This year, Roberts said the $10,000 donation went to pay off last year’s debt owed to the fireworks company. That debt was paid in May 2005 after the fireworks company granted the committee extra time to pay its bill.
In April, the committee asked the town for a $10,000 loan in addition to its usual $10,000 donation to help fund the event. Selectmen agreed in May to a $7,000 loan, of which $5,000 was used as a down payment on this year’s fireworks and for other expenses needed as up-front money.
About $4,500 was raised at the three-day event, being applied to such costs as the sound system, portable toilets, trophies and ribbons, tent rentals and insurance.
None of the committee members nor the volunteers are paid for their work, said Roberts.
The committee started planning this year’s event while carrying about $5,600 in debt but, now, according to Roberts and the committee’s treasurer, Eddie Shurtleff, the only creditors remaining are the town and the fireworks company.
One reason the Moontide Water Festival Committee is struggling to pay its bills is that more than $5,000 disappeared from the committee’s accounts from fund-raising efforts in 2004. The committee’s former president, Matthew J. Plante of Rumford, was indicted in February for the theft. He pleaded not guilty in March. An Oxford County Superior Court spokeswoman said last week that Plante was expected to be on the fall trial list for the Class C crime.
Roberts has pledged to personally repay the town’s $7,000 loan by Sept. 1 if the festival committee is unable to raise the funds, and Town Manager Steve Eldridge said he has no doubts that Roberts and his wife, Angella, will make good on that promise.
“Joe and Angella gave their word, and I trust their integrity,” he said last week.
He also said that if the $7,000 loan were not repaid, the town would no longer make its usual $10,000 donation for the festival. The loan and the annual grants from the town come from Rumford’s cable franchise fees account.
The committee is resting its hopes on paying off the $22,000 debt and putting money aside for future festivals on a rock concert set for Aug. 21 in the Mexico Recreation Park.
Jim Viger, owner of Big Vig Productions of Rumford, said the tickets will be priced at $22.50 in advance, $25 at the site. Children age 12 and under will be admitted free.
Viger hopes to draw between 4,000 to 5,000 people to the event, which could raise well above $90,000. He estimated expenses at between $35,000 and $40,000, with a net profit in the tens of thousands of dollars. The committee hopes to repay its debts from those proceeds, and will donate 10 percent of the take to the Mexico Recreation Park.
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