Railfest 2017 receives $65K funding boost despite some concerns

Sixty-five thousand dollars in funding may have saved this year’s Railfest only three weeks before the downtown festival is scheduled to take place.

The Texarkana, Ark., Advertising and Promotion Commission awarded the money at its quarterly meeting Thursday, taking responsibility for most of Railfest’s expenses despite at least one commissioner’s misgivings.

Railfest and the city’s Mardi Gras celebration have been in jeopardy since last year, when the Parks and Recreation Department, citing lack of staff and other resources, stopped organizing the events. Resident DeAnna O’Malley volunteered to take over but has faced daunting obstacles, including relying on the A&P Commission as a last-minute funding lifeline. The commission also paid more than $9,000 to support this year’s Mardi Gras.

Commission Chairman Buddy Allen said he was struggling with organizers looking to the commission to fund their events. He said the ideal is for them to be self-sustaining.

“I just don’t like a free lunch,” he said. “It (Railfest) was defaulted to this commission. I want to un-default it.”

Ward 3 Director Tim Johnson said funding this year’s Railfest should be contingent on more decisive plans for the festivals in the future.

“We need to make sure that we come up with some kind of guidelines to direct us in the future on how these are handled. … I would hate to see the events go. It may not be a tremendous tax generator at this point. I want to see these things become self-sufficient, but I don’t want to have a year when you can’t do it so you lose any forward momentum that these folks have who worked very diligently on these festivals over the years have been able to accomplish,” he said.

Railfest is scheduled for May 11-13 in Front Street Plaza downtown.

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