By Juanice Gray
jgray@natchitochestimes.com
The Historic District Business Association released the Christmas Festival income statement Wednesday, Feb. 14. The Christmas Festival showed a net income of $45,000. Income was generated from festival tickets, gate receipts, advance armbands, corporate sponsors, vendors, the parade, bus and RV rentals, merchandise and more. Festival tickets generated $497,302. Gate receipts for festival day were $154,833.
Gate receipts for extra weekends brought in $96,250. Sales of advance armbands totaled $42,882. Sponsorships, corporate and other, combined with grants totaled $91,875. The parade, bus and RV rentals, float rentals and trinket sales combined were $20,808. Also notable was $31,729 in merchandise sales.
The largest expense was festival ticket redemptions in the amount of $423,487. Next was fireworks. The bill of $97,500 covered all weekends. Festival administration was $45,000, advertising $47,942, entertainment $49,341, and sound systems, $22,492, rounded out the largest expenses. Total revenue was $957,163 while expenses were $912,163. Money paid directly into the community to non-profits, local vendors, security, entertainers and enhancements totaled $605,984.04.
The festival begins the 2018 season with $200k in reserves.