EVERETT — An Oregon company is negotiating to run the Salty Sea Days Festival for the next several years.
Portland-based Funtastic Traveling Shows has put on the carnival at Salty Sea Days almost since the festival began more than three decades ago, Funtastic co-owner Ron Burback said.
He is seeking a five-year contract for a subsidiary, Amusement Consulting Services, to run the festival, which was in danger of disappearing last summer during a controversy over a contract that guaranteed city money for the event.
Marion Pope, the driving force behind the festival for more than two decades, said she plans to leave the Salty Sea Days Association after this year’s festival in June.
Pope stepped down as executive director of the association during the heat of the controversy. She later rejoined as transition director and board member. The rest of the board members resigned their positions in September.
Burback said his company would provide stability for the festival until a group of local residents can run it themselves.
"This is one of the great festivals in the state of Washington," Burback said.
"We’re doing this in part for business reasons, but also because we’ve been in the community for 33 years, and it looked like the celebration might not go on. We think we owe the community something."
Pope said the association had to close the festival’s Colby Avenue offices after the City Council ended funding for the event. She said she is working without pay.
Burback said his company would ensure a strong local presence at the event. There would be more local entertainment, including perhaps a local talent contest, and booths run by nonprofit groups at discounted rates.
The 2004 festival is scheduled June 3-6 and June 12-13. The carnival will take place June 3-6, with the grand parade June 5. Limited hydroplane races are scheduled June 12, and outrigger canoe races and a classic car show are to take place June 13.
It’s unclear who — if anyone — will put on a June 12 fireworks show.
The Salty Sea Days Web site says the Dwayne Lane group of auto dealerships will sponsor the show, but Sheila Countryman-Bean, marketing director for Dwayne Lane, said no one from Salty Sea Days has asked the company to sponsor the show.
Last year, Dwayne Lane contributed $5,500 to the festival, making it the event’s largest private sponsor.
It’s also unclear who besides Pope is on the new board. Pope said the new board includes seven members, including representatives from Funtastic. She refused to release the names of any new board members.
Four of the five former board members said they didn’t know who had replaced them. Burback said he didn’t know who the new board members were, either. But he said Funtastic employees would not sit on the board.
"We would not want to be part of the board," Burback said. "You can’t be on a nonprofit board and benefit financially."
Some former members of the board were concerned because the association had not filed a Form 990 tax statement with the Internal Revenue Service since 1998.
The group’s accountant, Phillip Gilbert, declined to say whether the forms had been filed, and Pope did not return phone calls on the matter. An IRS spokeswoman said the agency could not confirm whether the tax forms had been filed.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com
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