This year could be the last time Tiger Stadium celebrates Memorial Day with some of country music’s biggest stars.
 
Scott Dyer, spokesman for East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden’s office, said the East Baton Rouge Metro Council decided Dec. 8 to strip the mayor-president’s budget of the $300,000 that was meant to sponsor Bayou Country Superfest.
 
He said the festival is safe this year, but the money will become unavailable in 2012, possibly sending the festival to another city.
 
Dyer specifically mentioned Shreveport as a city the concert could move to in 2012.   Blog: Superfest could have a new home in 2010  
Dyer said the money previously allocated for Superfest will now go to fund juvenile services and a substance abuse center.
 
He said $250,000 was also taken from the mayor’s account to be given to the District Attorney’s office.
 
Dyer said he feels Metro Council members were confused about what the money was being used for — support for community-sponsored programs.
 
Dyer said the changes made to Holden’s budget reflect the current times.
 
“There’s been a lot of attention on crime,” Dyer said. “That’s where this is coming from.”
 
Dyer said the money had previously allowed the city-parish to act as a sponsor for the festival, in addition to the Louisiana Office of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and the Baton Rouge Convention and Visitors Bureau.
 
Dyer said each group offered the festival $300,000.
 
“The council felt the money could be better spent,” he said.
 
Dyer said the show was responsible for a $35 million impact on the city in 2010.
 
Paul Arrigo, president and CEO of the BRCVB, said the festival attracted a crowd of 87,000 people during two days in 2010, and 2,800 of them were from outside the Baton Rouge area.
 
Arrigo said visitors came from 48 states and at least two other countries to see the show.
 
“The interest was broad,” he said.
 
Arrigo said the number of e-mails the bureau received following the festival last year surprised him. He said most of them were attendees singing the show’s praises.
 
Arrigo said the significant economic impact Superfest made in 2010 is one he hopes will occur each year in the future.
 
“Obviously, we would hate to lose it,” he said.
 
But Dyer said the city’s current budget situation will make it difficult to find $300,000 elsewhere to sponsor the show, and promoters could move it to another location.
 
“There are a lot of cities that might be interested in this,” he said. “A lot of cities don’t mind putting money up for it.”
 
Arrigo said he hopes Baton Rouge residents will embrace the festival by buying tickets and providing sponsorship for the event.
 
“This has the potential to grow into a major musical event,” Arrigo said. “Like Jazz Fest in New Orleans.”
 
Arrigo said the fact that the festival is put on in a college community could be one of its saving graces. He said students tend to know people who live outside the Baton Rouge area and can invite them to see the show.
 
“I encourage students to invite others who live elsewhere to buy tickets for their benefit and for the economic development,” Arrigo said.
 
Festival Productions Inc., the company that produces Superfest, will make a statement regarding the festival’s future closer to the date of the show.
 
 
 
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]