The local Juneteenth Festival will receive its full $15,000 from the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau up front this year, a departure from previous CVB policy regarding festival funding.
Columbus City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Juneteenth’s request for the full allocation of the funding for the festival. Lowndes County District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks, who also serves as the festival adviser, asked for $15,000 to be delivered on one check before March 15.
The request must now go to the CVB to be filled with funds earmarked for the festival from 2-percent restaurant sales tax collections. While in the past, CVB has funded festivals in two installments — half up front and half as reimbursement after the event — Executive Director Nancy Carpenter said she has no problem fully funding Juneteenth by March 15 per Brooks’ request.
“We really don’t have a choice,” she said. “We will certainly abide by that. … We will get half the money out of our funds for the next two months, $7,500 each month.”
The Juneteenth Festival celebration started in Columbus in 1996, Brooks said, to honor the day in 1865 when Union soldiers told enslaved Americans in Galveston, Texas, that they were free. The annual celebration takes place at Sim Scott Park, and it’s one of seven festivals — four in Columbus and three outside the city limits — in Lowndes County that’s funds are protected by inter-local agreements between the CVB, the city and county.
Per the inter-local agreement, $90,000 is set aside annually from the restaurant sales tax for the festivals. The four city festivals, including Juneteenth, are allocated $15,000 each while the three out in the county are given $10,000 each. Representatives from each of those festivals must request the funds from either the city council or board of supervisors, depending on which has jurisdiction, and the CVB must distribute funds within 30 days of receiving the request from either the city or county.
Juneteenth was canceled in 2018, Brooks said, partly due to the Legislature failing to renew the restaurant tax, meaning CVB did not have the usual funds available that year to help the event. The Legislature re-established the tax in 2019 and helped fund the revival of Juneteenth, albeit in before and after installments.
CVB’s split installment procedure came into question when another annual festival protected by the inter-local agreement — the Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival organized by State Rep. Kabir Karriem (D-Columbus) — was canceled in September due to confusion over when funds would be distributed. In that case, CVB provided $7,500 up-front but the second installment would not be provided in time to pull off the October event, Karriem claimed.
Karriem, who voted to reinstate the 2-percent tax that also finds the lion’s share of CVB’s annual budget, called the move “a slap in the face.”
Carpenter, speaking to The Dispatch on Tuesday, said CVB’s previous funding policy was meant to help limit taxpayer exposure in case funded events were canceled.
“You want to make sure that the event is taking place,” Carpenter said. “If the festival has to be canceled, then you’ve given all of the money to an event that didn’t even take place.”
But she said the inter-local agreement doesn’t specifically allow ways to split the funding.
For Brooks, dividing the funds up made it hard for the festival to cover the cost.
“When they split the money up, it costs us money,” Brooks said. “Because we have to go and borrow a portion of it, and we have to pay interest on it.”
Asking for the full funding early will allow CVB more time to collect the money and the organizers more time to determine the budget and search for quality festival vendors, Brooks said.
“The biggest thing for African-American festivals is entertainment,” Brooks said. “So if you wait too late, all the good entertainment is usually booked up.”
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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