Scottish festival won’t get funding

MINDEN, La. (AP) - A request by the Scottish Tartan Festival for funding has been denied by the Webster Parish Convention and Visitors Commission.

Scottish Society president Alan Cameron expressed disappointment at the commission’s decision.

“We aren’t even three months away and we are told we aren’t going to get the money,” Cameron said. “How can you let someone get right before the festival and not get the money? Our application has been in for a long time. I can’t understand it,” he said.

The Minden Press-Herald reported (https://bit.ly/1hRXvr9) the commission denied funding for the festival in 2012 and 2013, saying the group filed paperwork too late.

A commission spokesman says budget constraints prompted denial of the latest request.

The $5,000 requested by the festival was to be used to match funds for improvements and added entertainment for the annual festival, which is scheduled for April 5. The commission had considered an advertising grant of $1,000.

“Originally the way it was decided to do money was to help build these events to help them get started,” commission executive director Lynn Dorsey said. “It was never intended for it to be ongoing. It was an event-building fund.”

With budget constraints, the commission felt it couldn’t afford giving the full amount requested.

“I hate to cut them out totally, but I personally feel we can’t approve the major (grant),” commission co-chairman Terry Snook said.

Funding the festival would leave only $4,000 in the commission’s allotted budget for the remainder of the year.

“Basically with our first event of the year, we would be wiping out our budget for the rest of the year,” Snook said.

“We have cut back our major grants and our advertising grants have been slowly reduced as well,” Dorsey said.

The festival’s total budget is about $14,500. Cameron said organizers will be scrambling to fill the gap without the expected funding from the commission.

“This is the third time we have had this happen, just before the festival that they aren’t going to approve things,” Cameron said. “I hate to go around and beg people for money, after you already count on something.”

The Scottish Society is a nonprofit organization formed to promote Scottish culture, traditions, customs, history, literature, art and music in north Louisiana.

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Information from: Minden Press-Herald, https://www.press-herald.com/