Summerside Lobster Carnival aiming to become more financially self-sufficient

Organizers for the 2018 edition of theSummerside Lobster Carnival are counting on more community support and less financial help from the city this year.

The City of Summerside'sbudget preview on Monday showed less funding for the annual carnival, which organizers say is because it is moving to become more self-sufficient.

Over the past few years, a celebration of everything lobster inSummersidehas seen a number of changes,from the name of the event to its location.

Returning to its roots as a three-day event, a longer parade route and, according to organizers, more emphasis on the role of the lobster in the Island's economy, all added up to a successfulSummersideLobster Carnival, according to CultureSummerside, which ran the event last year.

More than 22,000 people attended the carnival over the three days, compared to about same number spread over seven days the previous year.

This year's edition is expected to be much the same as last year's.

Same overall budget

The carnival will have a similar budget of just over $80,000, according toLori Ellis, manager of heritage and cultural properties for CultureSummerside. The reduction in budgeted funding is due to the fact that the city budgeted to fund the carnival as a week-long event before the decision was made to cut the number of days, leading to a surplus. This means organizers have $60,000 left over from the city last year and will have an additional $20,000 from the city this year.

She said revenue from the carnival comes from admissions, sponsorships, donations and the city, which is spent on marketing, event set-up and artists.

'Community support integral'

"The community support is integral to the success of the whole endeavour," Ellis said."In 2017, the community contributions in kind were over $28,000 in value, so if you look at those costs that we could have incurred in addition to just the spirit of community involvement, it's pretty integral we have the community involved."

Culture Summerside will re-evaluate what its needs are from the city at the end of this year's event, which will depend on how much support it receives from the community and how many people attend.

The 2018 SummersideLobster Carnival will be held from July 1214.

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