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Sights & Sounds of Christmas Faces Financial Challenges

            SAN MARCOS – Financial challenges faced by the board of directors of San Marcos’ best attended annual festival will bring a significant change to this year’s event.

            For the first time since the first Sights and Sounds of Christmas was held 22 years ago, those attending the three-day event Dec. 3-5, 2009, will pay a nominal admission fee. 

            “It’s that or cancel the event,” says Rodney Cobb, president of the non-profit organization’s board of directors.  “If we had made the decision to cancel Sights and Sounds, we would for all practical purposes have cutoff fundraising opportunities for any number of local non-profit organizations, from the Boy Scouts to the Fraternal Order of Police and the First United Pentecostal Church.”

            Cobb said a temporary fence will be constructed around San Marcos Plaza Park for the festival.  Admission will be $1 for children ages two through ten and $2 for those 11 and up.  There will be no charge for children under the age of two.  Three-day passes will be sold prior to the event for $4; there will be a limited number.  The organizers are still planning to continue offering free photos with Santa to all children who attend.

            Wristbands will be issued to children scheduled to perform for the event.  Each performance wristband issued will be good for one evening at Sights and Sound.  Volunteers, city staff and vendors working the event will be issued tee-shirts, buttons and wristbands to ease their access to the grounds.   

            With crowds estimated at 50,000 over the three days, longtime volunteers say those attending are a nice mix of local residents and out-of-towners.  The majority of food vendors are local non-profits.

            Declining sponsorships and donations, along with rising costs, are cited as the culprits behind the necessity to add the admission charge.

            “We finished $1,000 in the hole last year,” Cobb said. “People have thought that Sights and Sounds has raked in tons of money each year, but the fact is that just about every penny raised has been poured back into the community.”

            Significant permanent improvements made to San Marcos’ parks as a result of Sights and Sounds include construction of the permanent stage at San Marcos Plaza Park that is used by many other local festivals and special events, as well as a vastly improved park electrical system. Sights and Sounds revenue also made significant improvements to the City Park Recreation Building which was damaged by the fire that destroyed the adjoining Lions Club Tube Rental Building last April.

            Since the Rec Building was used as a Sights and Sounds activity venue, another large tent must be rented to take its place this year.

            Tent rental is already a big ticket item for Sights and Sounds.  Others include insurance, transportation (buses to transport attendees from outlying parking areas), lighting, electricity and electricians, trash disposal, port-a-potties and security.

            “Sights and Sounds has been a wonderful cooperative venture for the past 22 years,” Cobb says.  “Cooperating entities include the City of San Marcos, the San Marcos public schools who have provided creative entertainment and Texas State University which has provided many student volunteers, as well as local churches and non-profits,” he adds. 

            “We are hopeful that this sense of cooperation will continue and that the public will be understanding about our dilemma,” says Cobb. “There are so many people who have worked so hard to make it a San Marcos tradition, and we want that to continue.”

            Sponsors, contributors and volunteers for this year’s event are currently being sought, Cobb says, along with underwriters for the Sights and Sounds Gala fundraiser.  Contributions may be mailed to Sights and Sounds of Christmas, P O Box 1896, San Marcos, TX 78667-1896.   For telephone information, call Cobb at (512) 393-8400.