One of Athabasca’s favorite events is in jeopardy.
This year’s Magnificent River Rats Festival could be cancelled if more people don’t come out and help the overworked volunteers.
The festival committee is hosting a meeting at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. to try and revive the festival.
With only six members, and limited preseason sales, the River Rats are looking at no big-name artists, or even no celebration at all.
“We are under a cash flow crunch that was exasperated by the timing of grants,” president Robin Dosenberg said. “We had very few people trying to do too many positions, and now we’re just running on a skeleton crew and we’re barely floating.
“It seems like the festival has been on a downhill slide and we’re trying to pull it out, but there are only so many people working on it.”
Dosenberg is looking to the community for help.
“We’re looking at having elections so we can revive it,” he said.
“It’s probably going to be scaled back at the least, and we won’t be able to have such a big event because of the timing of grants, and securing artists.”
Dosenberg said he’s seriously considering having the festival at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex because it’s cheaper, it’s got more parking, and it doesn’t depend on the weather.
“There is lots of parking at the multiplex, where as at the riverfront it’s awful,” he said.
He noted that’s cheaper to rent the multiplex than it is to supply toilets at the riverfront.
