Could this popular Oakville festival be cancelled?

The future of Kerrfest is up in the air.

While the annual music and kids’ celebration returned earlier this month with a solid turnout, rising costs have put a strain on the Kerr Village BIA’s budget and declining sponsorship has put in question the return next year of the Oakville festival.

“We’ll see,” said Doug Sams, Kerr Village BIA Executive Director, told INhalton.com. “We’re still working on paying invoices and our accountant is going to take a look at this and let us know where we stand, and we’ll have to make a determination down the road.

“You know, we hope to continue in some form or fashion.”

One of the few larger festivals remaining in Oakville, Kerrfest returned this year after taking a year hiatus in 2023.

“We had to take the year off because of rising costs,” said Sams. “Production costs have gone up by 50 percent. Performer fees have gone up substantially. The same acts you got pre-pandemic are double (the cost) now.

“So, our budget needed a break. We’re not in it to make money, but we can only lose so much money. So, that’s why we had the break.”

Organizers brought the annual event back to Westwood Park on Sept. 6 to 8 with musical acts like David Wilcox, Teenage Head, Saga, Toronto and Lighthouse taking the stage.

An effort was made to try and minimize the costs to be effective.

“I think people were glad it was back, but we still had sponsorship issues because in the business world, some businesses are down and not able to sponsor like they did before,” said Sams.

“We had a successful event. We had a decent crowd on Friday night. Saturday’s crowd was held down a little bit by the weather. Sunday with the Kerrfest Kids we had a great, great turnout. The weather cooperated and the park was full, so we had a great turnout for Kerrfest Kids.”

Attracting sponsors is key, said Sams, and will likely determine the future of the musical festival.

“We’re hoping, because, like I say, we try to work within our budget, but we need sponsorship support to pull this off,” he said. “We never have ever made any money. In fact, we’ll have a little bit of a loss, not as substantial as 2022.”

The festival features live music along with local vendors, and sponsor booths and the final day is always dedicated to families and their children.

This year’s event marked the eighth time it was held.

“We do it for the community, to bring people to Kerr Village,” said Sams. “To expose them to the area with the hope that they will shop and dine here for our merchants who pay into the BIA levy.”

Sams believes there is still interest from local residents in events like these being held in Oakville. Last year after more than 40 years, the Oakville Downtown BIA cancelled the well-attended Midnight Madness.

“I’ve been told people would rather stay in the area to go to an event rather than drive around the GTA,” said Sams. “It’s convenient for them.”

Still, rising costs and a shortage of sponsors are making it increasingly difficult to hold them.

Sams said that pre-pandemic, groups could absorb the costs better, but it’s a lot more of a challenge now. Groups have to find ways to be more cost-efficient with the performer fees and production costs.

A new big sponsor would be a good start.

“That would be very welcome, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened,” said Sams. “We tried to do a donation drive last spring and only two people contributed, so we really have to look at that part of it. If we continue to struggle to find sponsorship and that, then I don’t know what the future would hold.

“We have to ask people for what we call a donation because of contract obligations, but we started out a couple of years ago asking for $5 and then it went to $10 and now it’s at $20. I wouldn’t imagine us going any farther than that.”

Sams would love to see them get new sponsors and help them return to the days when Kerrfest was free for the public.

“But that hasn’t happened,” he said of adding sponsors. “We’ve had some really good sponsors step up over the years. We’ve had some good ones, but a couple weren’t able to do it this year because even their businesses are down.

“It’s a real catch-22.”

Sams said what is certain is that the Kerr Village will do what it can to bring Kerrfest back in its entirety.

“We’re going to see where we’re at and we’ll evaluate it,” he said. “We would like to thank everybody that has supported us and came out for the event. I hope they enjoyed it.”