The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
More than $100K pledged
[ By Mark Reaman ]
Given an outpouring of financial donations to the Crested Butte Music Festival in the last 10 days, the festival won’t be going away any time soon — which was apparently a real possibility given some financial challenges coming out of COVID. By early this week, more than $110,000 had been pledged to the festival.
“We are overwhelmed and inspired by the support of our community,” said Music Fest executive director Erica Vernon. “The majority of our gifts were from local supporters. However, there was a strong showing of support from second homeowners as we neared the end of the campaign.”
Vernon said that because the festival met its $100,000 goal, the direction now is to focus on the strategic plan and “create a solid foundation as we plan for our 2023 season.”
“In the short-term, it helps us to rebound from COVID and have the operational funds to plan the 2023 season,” she said. “In the long-term, it allows us to strengthen our board and create a strategic plan to support us for the coming years. Our programming has become quite diversified and supports the entire valley. With this, we need a plan that helps us maintain financial sustainability while continuing to serve our entire community, such as our Senior Care Center concert series and Hispanic Heritage Celebration.”
According to Vernon, the vast majority of the donations were $100, “which shows compelling and widespread support to raise $100,000 quickly. This also demonstrated to our board the level of support we have from our Valley. The board will officially meet this Thursday (November 10) to discuss the next steps instead of taking a vote to dissolve.
“We are grateful to our community of locals and second homeowners who have helped us move forward through their support,” she continued. “We look forward to our 2023 season and are proud to be a part of the Gunnison Valley tapestry.”
