The fight is on to save this year’s Prestfest music festival - after a row has broken out over funding, resources and overdue fees from previous participating venues.
Organisers announced on Friday that the event was “cancelled” on social media- only for them to delete the bombshell news hours later.
They said a “lack of funds and resources” had forced them to cancel this year’s showpiece, which attracts 10,000 visitors.
However, the news prompted a backlash with one defiant watering hole saying: “Prestfest is 'nobody’s to cancel.'”
It’s left major question marks hanging over the event, due to run in Prestwick from Friday, September 1 to Sunday, September 3 with a host of top music acts in the pipeline.
In a statement on Friday the Prestfest 2023 group said: “We regret to announce that, due to a lack of funds and resources, we have taken the decision to cancel Prestfest 2023.
“We are deeply disappointed we have not received the funding to enable us to put on this year’s show.”
The statement added: “Thank you for your support in the past.”
In a bizarre twist, the message was deleted from the group’s social media page on Friday night and replaced with a new cover picture, which appeared to suggest the event was back on.
The developments prompted surprise from some pub landlords
A post from The Red Lion in Prestwick said Prestfest is “nobody’s to cancel.”
They took to Facebook to say: “We note the post about Prestfest being cancelled this year. Not cancelled in here!
“We’ll work with other pubs to put on the show as per usual!”
They later went on to say: “Prestfest is Prestwick’s, the peoples. It was started by a bunch of guys many years ago and has evolved.
“No one owns Prestfest, which is why we say it is no one’s to cancel.”
And the team at The Golf Inn, on the town’s Main Street, said they were “just as confused as everyone else” when they saw the post.
They added: “The weekend will still go ahead here at The Golf Inn. I am sure most other pubs will still be involved as well.”
Prestwick councillor Martin Kilbride said he was “as shocked as everyone else” when he saw the news about the event’s cancellation and vowed to make inquiries.
And fellow town councillor Hugh Hunter said he was “very disappointed” with the cancellation, but added: "It's a pity we didn't know about potential issues with this year's Prestfest earlier and perhaps we could have addressed them sooner, but I have no criticism for the organising committee whatsoever, they're a fantastic bunch of people. Let's hope we can sort something out."
Cameron Ramsay, also a town councillor, said: "As the local Labour member for Prestwick, I am extremely disappointed that the Prestfest for 2023 has been cancelled due to a lack of funding and I will do anything that I can to help.
"I am disappointed for three main reasons. The first is that the Prestfest is an important and well-established local event which is well supported by local residents. These events are vital for the local economy to bring visitors to the town, support our local culture and showcase our great assets.
"Secondly, I am annoyed that there has been many promises and rhetoric made by this Tory minority administration in the Council about investing to build capacity to support local events and attract tourists; this cancellation calls out those empty words.
"Also, if this is a sign of the level of support from the Council to local events that are not the Airshow or in Girvan then the administration has a lot of explaining to do why they are acting against the best interests of places like Prestwick."
Scores of people have taken to social media, expressing confusion over the current situation.
One critic of the organisers, said: “Don’t think you did yourself any favours giving out mixed messages within four hours of each other.
“Last year was great. If this year’s was in danger you should have put a post up about getting support before a shock tactic of 'cancelling' and playing on people’s emotions. The public deserves better treatment."
Prestwick councillor Ian Cochrane said: “This is sad news. Prestfest is a popular event attracting many people to the town. Showcasing many and varied musical talents. I have not received any requests for assistance nor notification that the event was in doubt.”
Last year’s event attracted 10,000 as revellers enjoyed three days of music and entertainment, witnessing more than 150 acts take to stages across town.
Today (Monday) Bill Briceland released a statement of behalf of the organising committee which said a vastly scaled down committee, a row over affiliation fees and a “misunderstanding” over council funding has meant the current committee “do not have the appetite” to proceed with organising this year’s event.
And they will hand over the reigns to interested parties.
The statement read: “Working on a tight budget; Prestfest is organised by a small group of volunteers who give up their free time to put on the festival.
“This year the committee is even smaller than in previous years, with only five members remaining after four people stepped down from last year.
“In the last few years the festival has taken place at Boydfield Gardens and in pubs and clubs throughout the town. It has constantly been changing and evolving over the years, due to a changing committee, and new ideas always being put forward.
“The small committee this year took the decision to inform the venues that if they wanted to be involved they would each be in charge of organising and running their own events over the weekend.
“They were asked to let us know if they wanted to pay an affiliation fee and be included in the list of official venues for 2023.
“This helps with the cost of marketing and publicity. Only two pubs: The Buf and The Golf Inn, responded and attended a meeting to discuss their involvement. To date no other venues have contacted the committee.
“To our disappointment two venues have not paid their affiliation fees from last year despite having received several reminders. This has had an impact on our cashflow.
“The events at Boydfield Gardens are funded through sponsorship, and in the main, a grant from South Ayrshire Council. This year we had planned to put on a Country Music day on the Saturday afternoon and tribute acts on the Sunday.
“Last year, when we received the grant from SAC, they indicated that they would consider giving us an annual grant to allow us to put on the festival.
“With this in mind, we proceeded to organise events for Boydfield Gardens: booking acts, ordering the mobile stage, arranging food trucks, security etc.
“When we approached SAC this year about grant funding, they advised us that there had been a misunderstanding, and they had not made any commitment to annual funding. They said that we would need to apply each year and be assessed, and that the grant fund was extremely oversubscribed. They said there was no guarantee that we would get funds.
“We therefore prepared our grant application and submitted it to SAC. We received an immediate response and was advised that they were only considering applications for Coronation celebrations at the moment, and they could not consider our application.
“Faced with the uncertainty of what venues would be taking part and no grant from SAC, the committee felt they had no choice but to cancel this year’s festival.
“We then informed all the acts that had been booked and advised all the service providers for Boydfield Garden that we were not going ahead.
“We then posted on the Prestfest Facebook page that this year’s festival had been cancelled. This has resulted in the committee receiving some unjustified negative comments.”
The statement goes on: “Two ex-committee members who had previously said that they did want to be involved in this year’s Prestfest have now said that they want to see the festival go ahead with music in the pubs, however, they have also stated that they do not want to be involved in organising events at Boydfield Gardens.
“We now understand that as a result of all the publicity on social media SAC are now going to discuss the matter of the grant at their meeting on Monday, April 3.”
The statement adds: “If SAC now decide to give us the grant, the current committee, after all the setbacks, do not have the appetite to proceed with organising this year’s festival and would happily hand over to any party that is interested.”
A spokesperson for South Ayrshire Council said: "South Ayrshire Council provided grant funding to Prestfest in 2022.
"Each year several organisations approach us for funding for events.
"We are always significantly oversubscribed and cannot commit to supporting an external event every year.
"This year, with the addition of the King’s Coronation, the event budget is under significant pressure.
"We have not advised Prestfest that we cannot fund them this year.
"We have advised that until we have concluded the funding exercise for the Coronation we can’t consider wider applications at this stage."
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