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New Financial Developments For Sarasota Chalk Festival

sarasota-chalk-festival [1]Sarasota Convention & Visitors Bureau Teams Up With Sarasota Chalk Festival.

The 2011 International Sarasota Chalk Festival will continue as planned thanks to the last minute intervention of the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau (SCVB). 

Virginia Haley, CEO and President of the SCVB, explained that due to stricter regulations put in place by the Sarasota City Council for granting community redevelopment agency grants, $25,000 of funding previously pre-approved for the Chalk Festival was removed leaving the fate of the Chalk Festival at risk. Haley approached the city and proposed that the SCVB serve as the fiscal agent for the festival. “We went to the city with this crazy idea and they turned around in about two to three hours with a yes,” Haley explained. 

Denise Kowal, Founder of the Sarasota Chalk Festival, expressed her thanks to Haley and the SCVB saying, “The logistics of the festival are very complicated. What the SCVB has done is allow us to focus on what we do best; work with the artists.”

She went on to explain the economic impact is expected to double in size from last year. 80,000 people attended the event in 2010, artists occupied approximately 200 hotel rooms and the SCVB estimated an economic impact of over $3,000,000. This year, the Chalk Festival has over 400 hotel rooms reserved and is still working to place 25 artists. 2011 attendance is expected to exceed 100,000 people.

Visit the Sarasota Chalk Festival at www.chalkfestival.com [2]

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