The City of Paducah has released a report showing how much it cost the city for 2013’s Barbecue on the River festival.
This comes shortly after Mayor Gayle Kaler asked for an audit of the BBQ & More retail store at a city council meeting to fulfill a 2011 agreement with Barbecue on the River organizers.
City Manager Jeff Pederson asked for this first-time report that breaks down the more than 142,000 dollars the city contributed to the four-day event, which spokesperson Pam Spencer said is a benefit for the city.
“It’s good for an internal audit just to see what it really takes for us to provide that in-kind support to any kind of festival,” she said.
At nearly 109,000 dollars, the bulk of the costs for Barbecue on the River went to assistance with setup and teardown for the event and traffic and electrical workers. The remaining 33,000 dollars went to the fire, police and parks departments, which included table and stage rentals and labor.
Spencer said a similar report has been compiled for just one other city event, the Lowertown Arts and Music Festival.
“It was about a third of the cost,” she said. “But it’s a smaller scale festival too. Each festival is very unique in the amount of volunteers or depending on how much food is going to be associated with it. Each one is unique in what they request from the city.”
Spencer said the city isn’t concerned with the cost of Barbecue on the River. The full report can be found here.
