Monetary Support for The Procession, 76% and Counting

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Monetary Support for The Procession, 76% and Counting

Submitted by Nicki on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 8:48am.

City Council

So, out of 21 people so far, 76% have voted for the City of Olympia to monetarily support The Procesison of the Species. That's great! I wish more people would vote, but this gives a clear pciture to the City Council of what the people want. But, are they watching??? Too bad there isn't a larger forum, like The Olympian, who would come forward and actually take a consensus. I am sure there are a lot of people who don't go to see it and many who haven't ever even heard of it, but for the thousands, children and adults who spend countless hours preparing beautiful works of art, it is a glorius event. It brings families together, processioners and specatators alike. It brings people from outside the community (20,000 to 30,000 all tolled each year). The Illuminated Procession the night before is spectacular. The batik bannners that appear downtown days before are beautiful. The Procession is giving this city something that is one of a kind. Something they can flaunt and be proud of. I suppose I'm opening myself up for attack but, too bad, because if it doesn't get any funding it surely won't be able to continue to happen.

Then maybe these 20,000 to

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 9:10am.

Then maybe these 20,000 to 30,000 people should all donating a buck or two, no?

I played competitive sports my entire life and the only good local soccer fields I played on which were funded using taxpayer dollars was Pioneer Park.

Compare the different between the baseball fields in the Olympia School District and Tumwater School District. In Olympia the fields are an absolute wreck (the last I checked. I haven't driven over there since the FieldTurf was put onto the stadium field). In Tumwater? They're beautiful. Why? It's not because the Tumwater taxpayers put more money toward the fields. They look good because volunteers went out and donated their money and labor.

The girl's softball field at Tumwater was done almost entirely by private citizens. The same with the baseball field by the Church of the Nazarene.

If you really want something you'll start asking the people who enjoy the service to put up or shut up.

If the people aren't donating money toward the Procession, maybe it shouldn't survive.

EDIT: I didn't mean to sound as if closing up shop was the only option, as I'm sure there are many volunteers for the Procession. Maybe the Procession should scale-down, then, to remain small enough so the volunteer force can meet the workload.

I vote for private funding.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 9:28am.

Call me crazy, but I think the city has more pressing matters that they should be spending their limited budget on (infrastructure, services).

No, you're not crazy. The

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 9:48am.

No, you're not crazy. The City doesn't have the money to spare even if they wanted to (which I'm sure they do).

You are both right

Submitted by Nicki on Fri, 05/05/2006 - 9:52am.

Yeah, you are both right! The 500 or more people who came to the art studio this year should have donated the approximate $5-10 it costs to provide supplies to them. The cost of heating alone is $3,000 per month. Wax for batik is $30 a slab. Glue, paint, brushes, hot glue sitcks, all cost money and many of the participants never pay. Last year all of Mr. Sterling's personal tools that he put there for people to use freely were stolen. There are also those who are very generous, but it never coevers the total amount and people end up paying from their own pockets. The Procession is an invitation to public. There is a suggestion to donate, but the announcements also say, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. This year, there were many less volunteers and we all knew why. It is directly related to the smear campaign run by The Olympian and the possible feelings people have about what they think happened given the information they've been given. So, we will get a long as best we can. But, if your talking about more important things that need to be funded, why did Arts Walk get such a large amount of money. Aren't they also just a touchy, feely event?

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