Organizers of the Lilac Festival are having an 'economic struggle,' paying what they say are exorbitant fees for city services

Calgary street festivals and the city are butting heads over what festival organizers are calling “prohibitive” city service fees.

City costs for the Fourth Street Lilac Festival have skyrocketed by more than $40,000 since 2004, and now account for almost 50 per cent of the festival’s operating costs, says festival organizer Jennifer Rempel, adding it is difficult to raise the money because the event is free. A large portion of the costs are road closures, which the city covered until 2007.

“It doesn’t feel like the city is fostering these events,” she says. “There is a disconnect. The city wants to support events but they’re making it an economic struggle.”

Festival organizers, city council and administration agree that Calgary’s street and music festivals are vital, and they are working on a new city bylaw and policy.

Ald. Ric McIver has twice raised the issue with city council, calling for aldermen to deal with the cost issue before Calgary loses a major festival.

“City council needs to find a way to be facilitators of festivals and make city services affordable,” he says. “That may take the form of actually throwing a budget at it or pricing our services at bare cost recovery.”

Other festival organizers accuse the city of nickel and diming them to death. For example, organizers of Calgary’s Fringe Festival, which is one-tenth of the size of the Edmonton Fringe Festival, say they pay twice as much for city services.

As well, some festival organizers accuse the city of playing favourites; for example, the Calgary Stampede pays the city $50,000 per day for its 10-day extravaganza, including the popular parade that shuts down 4.5 kilometres of city streets for several hours. The $50,000-price tag happens to be the same amount Lilac Festival organizers pay for their one-day festival.

The city told Fast Forward Weekly it doesn’t charge the Stampede for road closures or for the 140 police for security and traffic control required for the parade. It bills the Stampede about $3 per linear metre for bleachers for 25 per cent of the parade route, totalling about $3,000. The fee is charged because the Stampede charges for those seats.

“That doesn’t seem fair,” says Annie MacInnis, executive director of the Kensington Business Revitalization Zone, which organizes the Sun and Salsa Festival in July. “The festival is a free charity fundraiser. Our mandate is to put on the best festival that we can in the current financial climate. All of my costs have gone up across the board.”

Last year, the city billed the Sun and Salsa Festival for nine off-duty police officers, including a sergeant, and an ambulance and its crew. As well, festival organizers had to apply for several permits, including one for road closure and another from the Calgary Health Region.

The city’s manager of arts and culture says the Stampede Parade cannot be compared to other local street events. “The Stampede is unique; it is an internationally recognized event,” Beth Gignac states in an email. “It has been an event of major significance since the early 1900s.”

Business Revitalization Zone directors protest that their events make the city vibrant for the entire year — not just 10 days — and have been lobbying the city to give free events a break on fees.

Gignac maintains she is working with festivals to defray costs, but her hands are tied because she has to work within a fee-for-service model — directed by city council.

“I would like to see us, as an event community, come together and realize we’re all in the same game here, providing vitality for Calgarians. There is a cost of doing business in Calgary,” she says.

A new special events policy has been in the works for three years, prompting some city council members to complain that administration is dragging its heels.

On June 24, the Calgary Police Service is introducing an amendment to the concert bylaw, which includes using volunteer security along with police — the number to be determined by a complex formula, based on risk and the type of event and venue. Festivals are currently required to have one officer per 1,000 attendees (although there are concessions to that rule), at a cost of $93 an hour — exorbitant for events like the Lilac Festival, which attracts about 100,000 people.

The Calgary Fringe Festival’s producer says festivals need a champion at city hall. “It’s going to take someone to take a leadership role, whether it’s the mayor or an alderman, to say ‘This is important. It’s not an inconvenience, it’s something we should be doing as a service to the taxpayers,’” says Gallan.

City bills for festivals

Here’s a sampling of a small percentage of city service fees (not including GST):

POLICE

Duty constable (3 hr min.): $93 per hour

Duty staff sergeant: $124/hr

EMS

Ambulance and paramedics standby: $152 per hour

FOOD AND BEVERAGE

Outdoor cafe permit: $413

Food service or retail dealer license: $133 to $633

Special function tent permit: $253

ROADS

Detour/barrier signage staff $31.07 per hour

Parking, special events staff: 41.22 per hour

No parking signage: $160, plus meter-revenue loss

Right/Left lane closure: $255

Road closure: $490

Message board: $150

Rental road fee per linear metre per day:

Beltline: $1.55

Downtown area: $3.10

Calgary’s core: $4