Will Fremont festivals go the way of corporate sellouts?

Many of Seattle’s prized neighborhood festivals are getting expensive to run, partially because the city is pulling its financial support for the events. Some locals are worried the events will morph from cherished community fests to corporate bashes.

One such neighborhood is Fremont, where the chamber of commerce organizes two large annual events: The Fremont Solstice Fair and the Fremont Oktoberfest.

“You need more money to keep these things going. They are afraid Fremont has always had its guard up to losing what makes Fremont such a local, crazy little (neighborhood),” said John Curley on KIRO Radio’s Tom and Curley Show. “They don’t want corporations to come and take over what is so uniquely local.”

The event fee for Fremont’s upcoming Oktoberfest is $4,897, The Seattle Times reports. But in the years to come, it will shoot up to $36,508.

With that financial pressure, many wonder if Fremont be forced to turn to corporate sponsors, just like Bumbershoot did?

“The great thing about Fremont is that it is so funky and the problem is that when you need more and more money to support more and more of these little fairs, they get to be so expensive, they need to be underwritten. And if that’s the case, do you lose it?” co-host Tom Tangney asked.

“Even Bumbershoot, maybe, survived financially because of AEG Live’s influence, but the downside to it is that it turned into a music festival. So it’s much more like Sasquatch than it is like the Bumbershoot of old,” he said.

But it may be “too late” as Curley noted. It’s the way of the world, in his view.

“If you want the [Fremont fairs of old], move out of town,” Tangney said. “Move to Whidbey Island and have your free festival.”

“And your face painting,” John quipped.