Reporter’s note: On June 12, Rockland City Council voted 3-2 (MacLellan Ruf and Austin) in approval of this year’s park fee waiver for the Maine Lobster Festival. The following provides some of the June 5 discussion that lead to that vote.

ROCKLAND — The Maine Lobster Festival currently has $160,000 in its bank account (before vendors pay for their booths). It costs $720,000 to run the Festival. The City of Rockland has deteriorating piers, a sink hole near the Harbor Master’s Office (filled in June 7), and has cut $55,000 from its annual charity donations as it seeks an additional $1 million for its City budget and stormwater project.

To the MLF, it makes sense that they should be granted a fee waiver for the 2023 annual Festival since, after being closed for two years, and not charging admission fees in 2022 and 2023, they are “actually a poor organization” as MLF Public Relations representative Shannon Kinney said.

And, according to Kinney, the deeper relationship that Councilor Penny York wants to establish between the two entities could make it so that the City needn’t worry about not fulfilling the annual donation to AIO (or other nonprofits) this year, since the MLF could cut the check from its own revenue.

At times, words got personal at the June 5 agenda-setting meeting as the Lobster Festival Corporation presented reasons for why Council members should vote for a fee waiver at its next meeting, June 12.

Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf assured the MLF that her Council decisions are not personal, and advised MLF to not base their own actions on personal emotions. MacLellan-Ruf said she is always 100% in support of the Festival and is well aware of the significant impact that the annual event has on the Midcoast economy and beyond. But her role isn’t to be a cheerleader for the Festival.

“My role is to say, how do I make my responsibility to the city taxpayers work to their advantage,” said MacLellan-Ruf.

Fee waivers are never free, she said. Somebody always has to pay. The City pays the water bill and the gray water bill. The money from the fee waiver comes from the Harbor budget, which is straining under the weight of deteriorating infrastructure.

Yet, what has confused the situation, according to the Mayor, is that “back in the day” there was a lot of quid pro quo between the Lobster Festival and the City. For example, the park fees for the three parcels of land were waived for a period of time when the Festival helped pay the City’s purchase of Mildred Merrill Park. When the contract for that particular fee waiver ended, somehow the memory of why that waiver existed was forgotten.

When Councilor Nicole Kalloch – sponsor of this year’s Council bill to waive the park fee -- stated that other towns don’t require park fees for their festivals, or don’t charge nearly as much, MacLellan-Ruf said that that was like comparing apples and oranges. As Kinney pointed out, MLF recieves tens of thousands of emails throughout the year from potential visitors all over the world. Mostly, those inquiries are in regards to hotels and transportation. MLF has been on the Today’s Show four times and is a major player for the Maine Tourism Bureau.

MLF pays other expenses for the annual event. Last year they paid $28,000 for police details and another $2,000 or so for RSU 13 buses and Public Works. They also pay for tents. Its 2019 assets were $660,000, according to the 2019 tax form 990. As a not-for-profit, MLF is required to give away any excess revenue. After not opening in 2020 and 2021, and acting as a strong influence in community matters, MLF still donated to nonprofits as well as contributed to the MacDougal Park project, scholarships and other community interests.

The decision to return without an admission fee greatly reduced revenue. In 2023, MLF will again offer free admission, as it did in 2022, after concerns that local residents were no longer interested in the Festival. (Some years, the Festival has had upwards of 1,500 volunteers. Last year, they forged ahead with 350 volunteers.)

Having separated ways from the Carnival corporation, MLF went a different route, risking revenue, yet witnessing new perspectives.

The food lines were out of the park and down the street, according to volunteers. That record number of lobster sales helped defray the lost revenue, according to Kinney. Every souvenir with the MLF logo sold out. Because of unrestricted access to the park, the customers who wanted to buy vendor items but didn’t, or couldn’t, make the purchase on their day at the Festival, were able to return the next morning for pickup. In return, MLF charges for-profit vendors $950 per 10 x 10 vendor table.

This year, in lieu of an admission fee, donation buckets will be situated at the gates, with all proceeds going to the Maine Lobster Association. Also this year, the Festival did away with requiring sponsors for the Lobster Delegation – the new, gender-neutral pageant created after a survey of teens said that though tradition was important, they wanted more inclusivity.

Recognizing that MLF determines its annual budget in the autumn of the previous year – and therefore may not know to budget for a fee waiver – and that the City determines its budget in the spring,

Councilor Sarah Austin suggested that in the future, the City focus on the annual fee waiver request closer to the MLF budget season so that the not-for-profit isn’t caught off guard by the last-minute waiver decision.

“It’s tricky, but possible,” said Austin.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com