'Can't afford' to lose festival

Martin McPherson is realistic about the challenges ahead if he picks up the reins again as Alexandra Blossom Festival co-ordinator.

Acting festival committee chairman Tim Cadogan said this week if the 2010 festival went ahead, Mr McPherson would be event manager.

Mr McPherson, an orchard worker and Vincent Community Board member, was festival co-ordinator for 10 consecutive years, starting in 1992.

He was employed by the Alexandra and Districts Promotions Group and seconded to the festival committee until being made redundant from the role in 2002.

"In many ways, being asked to do the job again is a real measure of the trust and faith placed in me," he said yesterday.

"I'm not saying it's going to be an easy task, but I believe the basis of Blossom Festival hasn't changed.

"The core structure - what works well with the festival - hasn't changed."

"This community cannot afford to lose this event, which has been at the very heart of us for 53 years," he said.

His phone ran hot yesterday as people congratulated him and offered assistance if the festival went ahead.

Mr McPherson said he was fortunate his employers would give him time off work so he could carry out the event manager's role, a part-time position.

"I think the festival's lost its way a bit, but the model is there."

"Blossom Festival is unique because it's quaint - somewhat, some would say, old-fashioned, but that's its intrinsic value - that it has its roots in a small village."

The festival could be run at a profit and could engage the community, he said.

Contact Energy said it would contribute to the Alexandra community regardless of whether the festival continued.

Communications manager Jonathan Hill said Contact was committed to Alexandra and planned to be an active part of the community "for a very long time".

"We'll always want to be a constructive partner with the community, as it is a particularly important area for us.

Until now, one of the ways we've done that has been through supporting the Blossom Festival and if that doesn't survive, we'll be looking at other ways we can do that," he said.

Contact would continue negotiations with the festival committee, and look to the community for direction.

"The future of the event lies with the local community and we'll look for a signal from the community as to what extent it is valued.

"If there's a very strong community drive in favour of resurrecting the festival, then we'll be particularly interested in that," he said.

Contact Energy became the festival's naming rights sponsor in 2005 and signed a deal as principal partner in 2008.

Mr Hill said Contact started talking about sponsorship of this year's event with the festival committee before its financial loss was known.

"We were already discussing how we could continue to support the festival in an ongoing way," he said.

Cromwell and Districts Promotion Group committee chairman Adrian Somerville said as far as he knew the organisation had never been directly involved in the Alexandra Blossom Festival.

He had been involved with the group since 1997.

However, other Cromwell groups, including Old Cromwell Inc, had entered floats in the festival's procession.

Any request for help would have to be discussed with the group's board, which comprised about 15 people.

The promotion group sourced funding from the Cromwell Community Board, which was generally used for projects within the Cromwell area, he said.

"Personally, without talking to the board, I don't think we would be interested in funding anything out of Cromwell - if the festival was still being held in Alexandra."

Former chairman not surprised
"I don't like telling people `I told you so', but when I heard the news I wasn't surprised."

Former Alexandra Blossom Festival committee chairman Mike Bain had little sympathy yesterday for those organising the event.

Mr Bain warned of the festival's impending downfall before its 50th anniversary in 2006.

At the time, he said festival-goers would have to pay for all events if it was to survive, as operating costs were set to increase and funding reduce.

"The community cannot expect to have an open chequebook from companies and trusts as it has done in the past, and after 50 years, it is time the community took fiscal responsibility for its own funding," he had said.

When contacted about the festival committee's present situation, Mr Bain said it was no surprise.

"We could see then that sources of funding were starting to dry up and that will just continue.

"A festival that has been going 53 years should be self-sustaining.

"For the 50th festival, we cut our costs to suit and decisions needed to be made after that to drop some events that were costing a lot of money and not making any in return - like the parade.

"There's a lot of feeling about the parade, but at the end of the day it doesn't make money and I believe Alexandra can still have a blossom festival without it."

Mr Bain, who left Alexandra in 2008 and now lives at Whitianga, was chairman of the festival committee for the 2004, 2005, and 2006 events.

In the three years since he left the festival, it has made a combined loss of more than $134,000.

Mr Bain said events such as the WoolOn Awards were key to the festival's future because they generated profit.

"In today's society, it's all about cold, hard cash at the gate."

If committee members continued with the festival they should seriously consider changing the way it was traditionally run.

"It's all about rejuvenation of blossom in the region at the end of a cold, hard winter.

"Well, this has been a cold, hard financial winter and it needs to be rejuvenated," Mr Bain said.

"Part of the reason I didn't stand after the 50th was because I couldn't see any progression or change, which was needed even then."