Due to funding problems, Madison Festivals Inc. cancelled the seventh annual Kites on Ice Festival, a popular community event held along the Memorial Union Terrace on the winter ice of Lake Mendota.
Keith Peterson, event manager for Madison Festivals, Inc., described Kites on Ice as a community event that used kites to educate young and old alike about history, art and science.
The event allowed both amateurs and professionals to exhibit their kite flying skills.
\People were invited to bring out their kites; we had a public flying field under American Kite Association guidelines,"" Peterson said.
""We would also bring in kite fliers from around the world; they flew all different types of kites ... some of the super kites [were] very, very large.""
The global fliers were not just the main feature; they were also the main drain on finances. Madison Festival's Events Coordinator Angela Dupont estimated it cost $150,000 to put on the event.
""It costs a lot of money ... we're trying to find a way to make it more financially stable on its own so that what comes out of it goes back into it,"" Dupont said.
The program's main source of funding is currently corporate sponsorships and donations.
""We will of course continue to look for other corporate sponsorships, but we are going to look into any alternatives we can find. One possibility we could consider: it has been a free event for the past seven years. We could make it a ticketed event,"" Dupont said.
""We're going to dissect this entire event and look at a way that would work because we love producing the event, we love what it does for the community, but the event also has to stand on its own financially,"" Peterson said.
The funds of the Wisconsin Union will also see a small loss with the cancellation of one of its biggest festivals. Over 80,000 people attended last year's event.
""The Terrace is pretty empty during the winter time. Having more bodies in the building is obviously good for revenue, but that's not the only reason we're disappointed,"" said Laura Pescatore, marketing representative for the Wisconsin Union.
The disappointment stems from the loss of a positive environment created by the on-campus location of the community event. ""It brings out a student audience and also an audience that doesn't frequent the Union as often in the winter. It's been really important to us to maintain those connections,"" Pescatore said.
John Barresi, publisher of kitelife.com, was also sorry to hear of the cancellation.
""[Madison's] among the most renowned. If someone was looking at a list of festivals to go to, it would be in the top ten easily.""
One of the qualities that put Madison's festival toward the top is the unique presentation site. ""The whole thing of being able to do our kite thing outdoors and on a frozen lake is really wild. ... if you look at it in simple terms of kite flying, aside from the lakes [in Wisconsin], there's not a lot of ideal areas where the wind is coming at a straight plane,"" Barresi said.
Despite the general frustration with the cancellation, kite enthusiasts anticipate the return of Kites on Ice. ""We plan on coming back in 2007,"" Dupont said.
