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Scaled-down Summer Music Fest planned
The Loudoun Summer Music Fest is on for this year -- but in a smaller format.According to organizers, the festival, which takes place at Belmont Country Club in Ashburn, will be scaled down to just three concerts and one daylong music festival. The popular series had been averaging about 10 concerts a summer.
“If we can manage to pull off three shows and an all-day festival in this economy and with what happened last year, it will be a miracle,” said Tracey Parent, president of the Loudoun Foundation, which organizes the event to raise money for county charities.
The nonprofit organization hemorrhaged considerable money in 2008 due to frequent showers that forced the cancellation of a couple of concerts, leaving the foundation in a financial hole to start the 2009 season.
Adding to the series' woes this year was the recession, which made it difficult, according to Parent, to land corporate sponsors.
This is the second year in a row the fate of the series has been in doubt. In late 2007, AOL, facing its own financial difficulties, announced it was backing out as a sponsor, forcing the foundation to scramble to find new sources of funding for the 2008 season.
Parent said this year's slate of shows will be announced soon, and that at least one act will be making its first appearance in Loudoun.
Launched in 2004, the series has previously attracted such national acts as Pat Benatar, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blues Traveler.
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
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