During Tuesday’s joint meeting of the Woodstock Selectboard and the Village Board of Trustees, the funding for Woodstock’s Wassail Weekend was discussed and finalized. Wassail planning committee member Norm Frates Jr. and Elizabeth Finlayson, executive director of Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce, addressed the two boards, asking for the selectboard to fund $16,750 of the total Wassail budget of $21,000.
In the public proposal, Frates said, “Last year we went about changing a lot of things to ensure the growth and success of the Wassail Festival, especially encouraging people to participate. If you were there last year, you would know that Wassail was a tremendous achievement and an entire-weekend event. Because of that, we must raise money to ensure it can happen again. Instead of going door-to-door to every institution and asking for money like I did last year, I am here to ask that the selectboard allocate $16,000 from the local option tax revenue. That, combined with the $5,000 the Chamber has agreed to donate will cover our expenses for this year.”
The request prompted a greater discussion amongst the selectboard and trustees, as selectboard member Laura Powell questioned why the Wassail committee required such a large increase in funds from the $10,000 the Economic Development Commission awarded the event last year, how the committee planned to capitalize on revenue, and who is serving as the leader of this event. Powell said, “We as a town are responsible for tracking economic development and success in terms of making money back, not only for the option tax but how people perceive our town. It is concerning and confusing for me to not know to whom to write a check, how this festival will be organized, or how these funds will be allocated.”
Finlayson assured the board that the Chamber manages the planning and organization of Wassail Weekend, as Frates urged the board to consider spending the $16,000. “The town makes this amount of money every hour during tourist season, so what is the harm in investing in the success of Wassail this year?” he said.
The selectboard voted unanimously to approve the allocation of $16,750 from the option tax funds to Wassail Weekend.
For more on this, please see our October 2 edition of the Vermont Standard.
