The Alexandra Blossom Festival committee is working hard to build up its reserves in case it had to cancel the event at the last minute.

Treasurer Tim Coughlan spoke to the Vincent Community Board (VCB) yesterday about how 2023 was a close call, with rain all week in the lead up to the September festival threatening the iconic event.

“We were pretty close last year, but the weather gods came through with the sun at the last minute,” he said.

According to its accountability report, the festival costs $224,400 a year to run and the VCB grants the festival $24,500 each year for the infrastructure.

The committee also relies on corporate sponsorship - Contact Energy has been involved for many years, donations/fundraising in 2023 raised $126,000 and revenue on the day almost $100,000.

Tim said they were looking at securing a new agreement with Contact Energy in coming months, but had also been advised the company was under a corporate review.

VCB chair Tamah Alley questioned what would happen if the Blossom Festival was canned at the last minute, and how much of a loss they would face.

Tim advised it would cost them $100,000 in reserves, but all market sales would be refunded.

“We broke even last year, but there is not much room for error. “

The committee was just “one event away” from not being able to go ahead if threatened by bad weather or another Covid-19-type outbreak.

“All of our funding is short term and we have to do that annually.”

Numbers attending last year’s Saturday in the Park was around 12,000 - similar to 2022.

The board decided it was important to have another talk with the committee about how best it could become self-sustainable.

Board member Tracy Paterson said it was so iconic to the region and was here to stay, “and we need it to stay.”