Despite inflation and price increase, the Council has been steadfast in not raising prices for Colorfest, to provide an affordable festival for the entire community.

Event expenses have increased drastically, and although the festival is about providing a one-of-a-kind event for community nonprofits, the town still needs to be able to get a return on investment, Mayor John Kinnaird said.

Anticipating another deficit this year, the council discussed actions in an attempt to recover costs.

Chief Financial Officer James Humerick presented a comparison of last year’s Colorfest revenues and expenditures with previous years.

Humerick said that with all the COVID concerns the town was just hoping to break even after the increased expenditures and skyrocketed prices. "Overall, just our services this year increased by $10,150," Humerick said.

Since its inception in 1963, some years Colorfest makes revenue, other years it loses money, but 2021 was certainly the "oddball" year with a major deficit of over $23,000, Kinnaird said.

Since Colorfest does not charge admission, parking fees are one of the few ways the town can make ends meet. Through the previous parking agreement, vendors parking cars charged $10 and paid the town $2, keeping $8 per car. Organizations could charge less, but the town still collected $2 per car.

The Council bumped up prices to a recommended $15 per car, with the town collecting four dollars and the vendors collecting $11.

The Council acknowledged the jump to $15 was substantial but considering it had not been raised in years, they noted nothing else is going to get cheaper anytime soon.

The council said they can encourage each vendor to charge a minimum of $15 per car, and request they record every car, but due to the town’s current ordinance, they are unable to enforce this suggestion. All the council can do is ensure the town gets its four dollars from each car parked during the event, Kinnard said.

At public comment, Cub Scout Troop 270 vendors objected to the parking fee increase, pointing out that event goers were already unhappy with the $10 parking fee. They worried that the $5 increase would cause visitors to find a cheaper parking lot.

Noting there were only so many places to park during the festivities, Kinnard said those who baulk at the prices will often eventually return to park.

Aspects of the two-day event in October are impossible to predict, including weather and crowd turnout, and the town constantly has to do its best to stay one step ahead, Kinnaird said. "We accept that we have good years, and we accept that we have bad years," Kinnaird said.