Festival Still In Disarray But Large ‘Challenge Grant’ Could Help It Erase Debt

The Festival at Sandpoint is still without an executive director or office staff.

The organization is in debt: It lost $60,000 on this year’s concert season and owes another $30,000 in expenses.

Earlier this month, festival board president, Sally Lindemann, stepped down for personal reasons.

“It’s been an interesting year,” newly elected president Dave Slaughter told some 30 people at the festival’s annual meeting Thursday.

“I have people asking me if there will be a festival at all in Sandpoint next summer. But there is no doubt in my mind there will be one and it will be better than ever,” he said.

The good news for the troubled festival is that organizers are close to landing a large cash donation. Slaughter called it a “challenge grant” that would have to be matched with donations from residents and businesses.

The grant would pull the festival out of debt, said Slaughter, who hopes to announce the donor and amount after the first of the year.

The board plans to hire an office manager and support staff next week to reopen the festival office, which was closed Nov. 20 when executive director Connie Berghan and three other paid staffers quit.

The staff disagreed with recent board decisions and were under fire by some for a plan to move half of the Sandpoint concerts to Kootenai County.

A full-time festival executive director won’t be hired for another two or three months. The board already has about two dozen applications for the post, but wants to conduct a thorough, professional search.

“Staff is a big question, but we are not going to rush into anything,” Slaughter said.

The board plans to cut back from three weeks of concerts to two, review what type of musical acts will be featured and already expanded the board of directors from 12 members to 20.

Some residents had criticized the composition of the old board, saying it was not representative of the community.

“This year it’s truly going to be a community organization,” said treasurer Barbara Buchanan. “We tried to bring a lot of people back who founded the festival and made it work.”

Some of the newly elected include Bobbie Huguenin, owner of Schweitzer Mountain Resort and Pack River Management Inc.; Kim Benefield, who owns several radio stations; and Bob Bradley, a restaurant owner who was a vocal critic of the festival this year.

Rebuilding the festival from a tumultuous year will be slow and painstaking, Slaughter admitted, but said the board still has one main goal for 1996: “To succeed.”

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This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S UP The board plans to cut back from three weeks of concerts to two, review the type of musical acts and has already expanded the board of directors from 12 to 20.