photo credit: Courtesy of Sebastopol Apple Blossom Festival website
The parade in past years. 

April 5, 2024 update and clarification: 

In a story earlier this week, we reported that part of the roughly $14,000 in fees the city of Sebastopol usually bills to organizers of the annual event pays for fencing and portable toilets.

In fact, the city bills festival organizers $3,500 for "materials." The organizers are the city's chamber of commerce, for which the annual event is a fundraiser.

Myriah Volk, executive director of the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce, contacted KRCB to correct the record, saying the fencing and portable toilets are rented from a private vendor.

"The porta-potties and the fencing are a separate fee through Pacific Sanitation. They are the ones that the Chamber pays to do that work," Volk said.

She said the festival pays the firm about $5,000 for those items.

Volk also took issue with how our earlier story characterized how the city would offset the $14,000 in fees the council agreed to forego.

"There were just a couple of inaccuracies I wanted to let you know that the, the money didn't come from the city's general fund, it came from the police department and public works funds," Volk told KRCB.

However, according to Sebastopol City Manager Don Schwartz, our reporting was correct on that point.

"The city will pay for the police and public works time to support the chamber event, and the source of that is from the city's general fund," Schwartz said.

Initial article published April 3, 2024:

On Tuesday, the Sebastopol City Council unanimously agreed to assure this year's Apple Blossom Festival and Parade will go on....by waiving fees.

There was some debate about the city's financial position, while event supporters countered that the festival and parade boosts city revenue by attracting free-spending visitors.

Sebastopol's city council unanimously agreed to assure this year's Apple Blossom Festival and Parade will go on.

The city's chamber of commerce organizes the event as a fundraiser for itself.

The chamber's head, personally appearing hat-in-hand before the council, asked the city to tear up more than $14,000 worth of permits and fees the city billed organizers to hold the event this year.

The money pays for security, fencing, traffic control, and portable toilets.

Though a cherished local tradition, Sebastopol council member Sandra Maurer warned that the city might be unable to offer such largess in the future.

"We're facing a nearly two million deficit and moving forward a three million deficit, predicted.  So, I would,  I would  like to support you for this year, but, caution you probably to look forward to budget. Figure out a way a way to budget it for perhaps, the next couple of years."

In the end, the council opted to dig into the city's own general fund, to cover the expenses related to the festival, scheduled for the final weekend in April this year.

There was some debate about the city's financial position, while event supporters countered that the festival and parade boosts city revenue by attracting free-spending visitors.