Join Us on 9/20/07 at 5:30pm in the Borg Warner Room at the Tompkins County Public Library

Ithaca Festival…the Next Thirty Years!
Rob Gearhart, Ithaca Festival Board President
 
The Board of Directors of the Ithaca Festival thanks everyone who made Ithaca Festival 2007:  Reflection – the 30th Annual Festival – one of the best ever!  There are so many people who make this event possible, from the thousands who buy buttons and t-shirts, to the hundreds of volunteers and performers, to the many food, craft and sustainability fair vendors, to our donors and sponsors, and, of course to our dedicated staff.  We’re beginning to set our sights on Festival 2008 and beyond (you can read more about that below), but before we do we want to express our gratitude to those who make the Festival a reality.  If you’re one of the people who went home with a button or t-shirt with the beautiful art piece created by 2007 Festival Artist William Benson, or one of our special edition 30th Anniversary shirts, we thank you!  This continues to be our most important source of revenue and is the key to making this event possible every year. We’ve heard from many of you that the line-up for Festival 2007 was the best in a long time.  We want to give special thanks to all the performers who participated in this year’s festival.  You are the lifeblood of the Festival.   This festival would not be possible without the hundreds of community volunteers who do everything from hawking buttons at the parade as part of the Button Brigade, to selling product at Festival Booths, to “Talkin’ Trash” as part of the Resource Management Crew, to serving as Stage Managers or MC’s, to painting artful signs, and much more.  We owe an extra special thanks to all our volunteers.  We could not stage this event without your community spirit and dedication.   Enjoying a variety of internationally interesting food, wandering among talented craft vendors, and exploring our community resources for green living is part of what makes the Ithaca Festival a unique experience. We want to thank the food, craft and sustainability fair vendors for making the commitment to the Ithaca Festival each year.   We are increasingly in need of donor and sponsor dollars to make the Festival a reality every year.  We provide several opportunities for individuals and organizations to support the Festival, from sponsoring events or stages at the Festival, to purchasing ads in our program, to joining our Button Benefits program, to making donations to our annual fund.  We would like to acknowledge and thank our many sponsors — Wegmans, McNeil Music, Ancient Wisdom Productions, Cayuga Radio Group, Chem SW, City of Ithaca, Coldwell Banker, Community Arts Partnership, Community Energy, First Niagara, FlyIthaca.Com, Ithaca Bakery, Ithaca Foreign Car (the wonderful Volvo!), CSP Management, Sparks Electric Company, TCAT, Total Care, NYSERDA, BSI, and to those who contributed to our annual Ithaca Festival Players and Club 30 campaigns.  Your support is crucial to the ongoing health of the festival.   And finally, the creative and managing force behind the Ithaca Festival comes from our Executive Director Vicki Kysar and her staff of coordinators.  Vicki and her crew deserve a huge thank you for delivering Festival 2007!  Thanks Vicki, Rena, Jes, Angela, Trevor, Siobhan, Paula, Gregar, Kenny, Bill, Sharon, Susan, Kat, Rob, Jenna & Heather.  Vicki has announced that Ithaca Festival 2007 was her last festival as director, so we would like to give her an extra special thanks for leading 3 incredible festivals in 2005, 2006 and 2007.  She has left her mark in so many positive ways, perhaps the most notable, in addition to a great performer lineup, is the increased “greening” of the Ithaca Festival by adding the Sustainability Fair and implementing waste-reduction through recycling and composting efforts which this year reduced our trash totals by half.  We’ll miss Vicki’s leadership in the future, but look forward to her continued participation with the Festival. With Festival 2007 almost wrapped up, we’re beginning to think about the future.  After spending 2007 reflecting on 30 years of Ithaca Festivals, we’re now looking ahead to the next 30 years, or at least, we’re focusing on more than just Festival 2008.  The Ithaca Festival is at a crucial time in its history and we need your help.  Over the next two months the Festival Board will be conducting a series of public meetings and events.  The purpose of this is to gather your input on the future of the Festival.  In addition, we’ll be searching for a new Executive Director, and several new Board and Committee members.  If you’re interested in helping the Festival continue into the future, please consider providing your input and/or attending one of our events.  Our next public meeting will be on Thursday September 20th at 5:30pm in the Borg Warner Room at the Tompkins County Public Library.  If you’re on our e-mail list, you will be invited to these events.  You’ll also be asked to complete an online survey.  Anyone can visit our website (ithacafestival.org) to complete that survey or sign up to be on our e-mail list.  In addition, Festival Board members will be at the Ithaca Farmers Market in the weeks leading up to our public meeting.  Find us there to discuss the future of the festival, inquire about board or committee roles, or chat about our search for the next director.  Remember, the Ithaca Festival is a community celebration and it takes YOU to make it happen!