An upcoming balloon festival at Cedarock Park has picked up a favorable wind from Alamance County’s leaders, who’ve agreed to defray the park’s venue fee at the behest of the veterans group behind the event.
The county’s board of commissioners has resolved to “offset” at least part of the $4,400 charge that Graham-based organization Alcovets would otherwise owe for the use of Cedarock Park in compensation for any improvements that the group makes to this county-owned recreational site.
The commissioners approved this conditional waiver by a margin of 3-to-2 after members of Alcovets approached them on Tuesday with an ostensible update on the forthcoming festival.
During this presentation, Alcovets board member Richard Shevlin assured the commissioners that he and his colleagues will pull out all the stops when they launch this year’s three-day bonanza on Friday, September 13. Shevlin predicted that, during the course of the festival, the grounds of Cedarock Park will play host to 24 hot air balloons, 10 musical acts, 17 food trucks, 60 vendors, a car show, and a “canine” demonstration. He added, however, that all this excitement will come at a cost – one he conceded is increasingly falling on the shoulders of the nonprofit veterans services group that he represents.
“This has been a very disheartening year – costs continue to rise and our sponsorships have dropped,” Shevlin lamented. “It takes us well over $100,000 to put on the festival…and I’m asking if you can make a decision to relieving us of the $4,000 fee.”
Shevlin went on to remind the commissioners that Alcovets ultimately uses any proceeds from the event to benefit area veterans with everything from handicapped ramps and courtesy transportation to accommodations at a retreat in the southern part of the county.
Meanwhile, Chuck Talley, a Graham business owner and fellow Alcovets board member, recounted some of the improvements that his organization as made to Cedarock Park as part of the balloon festival. Talley noted that, since it took over the festival in 2019, the group has repaired roads, dispersed gravel, and even run an electrical line to a rustic home on the grounds of the county-owned park.
“We have tried to make the park better and more conducive,” Talley proceeded to stress, “and everything that we’ve done, the park has used.”
Talley and his cohorts had previously made this same argument when they approached the commissioners in April to make their initial pitch for a waiver of the park’s venue fee. At the time, the group’s request raised some eyebrows among the county’s governing board – and it did so again when Alcovets returned to the commissioners on Tuesday.
Commissioner Pam Thompson was particularly wary about the group’s pleas to be released from the fee. Although Thompson touted her bona fides as a veterans supporter, being both the daughter and mother of former service members, she observed that the commissioners had previously declined to subsidize nonprofit groups that didn’t already appear in the county’s annual budget. Thompson also alluded to a recent rundown of costs that the county’s administrators had compiled for the balloon festival, which concluded that various county departments spend some $29,417 a year to stage the event.
“I’m not your enemy, if anything I’m your biggest fan,” she added. “But as a county commissioner, when I see $30,000, I have to ask about it.”
Thompson was ultimately joined in her objections by commissioner Craig Turner.
“I love the balloon festival, and I’m a veteran,” the former Naval flight officer declared. “I’m also a member of Alcovets…But we have a policy, and if we don’t follow the policy all the time, it’s not fair.”
The group’s request nevertheless received a boost from commissioner Bill Lashley, who suggested that it would not be unfair for the county to compensate Alcovets directly for its improvements to Cedarock Park.
“Why couldn’t you just give us an invoice for all the work that you do?” he asked the group’s representatives. “I guarantee, it will be more than $4,400.”
The group’s cause got some additional gas from John Paisley Jr., the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners.
A long-time hot air balloonist, Paisley conceded that his health has prevented him from entering the last couple balloon festivals at Cedarock Park. He insisted, however, that the good work which Alcovets does for veterans deserves some reciprocation from the county.
“These folks do so much,” he added, “and so I’m requesting that we offset part of the $4,000 with services that they’re providing for Cedarock Park.”
Paisley was ultimately joined in his proposal by Lashley and Steve Carter, the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners. Turner and Thompson voted against the motion, which nevertheless passed 3-to-2.
