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Beulahfest Canceled, No Plans For Any Future Shows
January 14, 2015
Organizers announced this morning that the annual Beulahfest has been canceled for this year and that “there will not be another Beulahfest”.
“With (a) heavy heart however, the committee has decided to forgo the 2015 Beulahfest and any subsequent festivals. For the committee to feel completely comfortable in proceeding with the festivals, additional sponsorships and donations needed to be secured. Unfortunately, we were not able to secure those funds to produce the same quality of entertainment that we have provided in the past. We were blessed to have many years of community support and we hope that you take away fond memories of the past festivals,” Dorrian Vance, Beulahfest public information officer, said in a press release.
The music festival has been held since 1986 when it was the Beulah Sausage Festival, raising money for local charities and providing funds for firefighter training and recruitment.
The 2015 event was scheduled for March 20-21 at the Pensacola Interstate Fairgrounds. The annual event was to receive $25,000 in county funding this year — $20,000 from discretionary funds from Commissioner Wilson Robertson and $5,000 from Commissioner Steven Barry — to assist with costs.
“We thank the Escambia County Commissioners Wilson Robertson and Steven Barry for their financial commitment, and the private sector committed sponsors for their support,” Vance said. “We want to send a very special thank you to the Thompson and Whaley families and the volunteers that have helped make the last 28 years a success.” The Thompson family was the sausage provider for the former Sausage Festival, which was hosted on property near the Beulah Volunteer Fire Department owned by Jim and Joyce Whaley.
Past performers at the event have included a variety of country music stars….Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, Diamond Rio, Lone Star, Tracy Byrd, Terri Clark, Travis Tritt, Lee Ann Womack, Lynard Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels and many more.
Pictured: Last year’s Beulahfest entertainers Lynyrd Skynyrd (top), Charlie Daniels (inset), and Rodney Atkins (below). NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
27 Responses to “Beulahfest Canceled, No Plans For Any Future Shows”
I agree with everyone who says it got too big. Take it back to its roots as a small fundraiser for the fire department. I loved Springfest when it started, and it, too, got too big to handle.
I would like to thank all those in the motorcycle community who have supported our annual charity ride, “Riding for a Reason” over the years. The money we raised during our event which was a ride over to the Beulah Sausage Festival helped raise money for the Sacred Heart Miracle Camp. Although the Beulah Sausage Festival will no longer be a part of our event we do plan on finding other means to raise money for this worthy cause which benefits out locate children and families.
Thanks again for your support!
Al Fryer II (President)
Blue Knights Florida XXVI
Here’s an idea: How about a Molino Sausage Festival at the old Molino School property to benefit the Molino Volunteer Fire Department. Take advantage of the void by rebooting this event like it used to be.
Any takers…
Oh great. Now where will I go to get drunk and dress trashy???
The festival committed financial suicide when they decided to book big named bands. These acts require huge amounts of money and resources to play a show. Just look at the Bon Fire Jam and the huge Music Festival on the Beach. They to folded up and went away due to financial reasons. I believe the festival will return and it will be more like it used to be. It’s like my grandma used to say…”He’s gotten too big for his britches”…
If it was such a great deal for the citizens, it would not have taken tax money to run it.
I loved the festival (even in recent years). Much more than the fair. I got to see some great country performers that I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to see otherwise.I didn’t go last year, but every other year it was clean and friendly family atmosphere.I will miss it.
I would like to see an audit of where all the money raised has gone over the years…..it was started in the beginning to help a volunteer fire department…now with so many paid departments where did the money go…and moving to the fair grounds was a mistake
This event could have gone on for years if not for poor management decisions.
Sponsors and start up funds should only have been need the first few years. After that, enough funds should have been retained in order to put on the next show.
When was the last time an independent audit was done?
Well in that case, I hope the 25 thousand that was given to the kind folks at Beulahfest will be taken back and used elsewhere. Its a shame that this community will loose this venue snd the money it generated. Too bad some of the landowners who recently sold for big housing developments could step in and donate for their community!
they should have never changed the venue. It was perfect when it was across from the fire dept on 9 mile. It has truly sucked since then
I don’t understand why everything has to be so “uppity”. Not that anything is wrong with big name bands, I’ve seen some of them myself and it was great.
But we have TONS of LOCAL talent!!!!! Why not use some of the musical resources we have right here under our own feet?!
If “money” is the only objective, then yeah, maybe priorities needed to be changed. I know it’s about raising money to help out, but we don’t have to have Lynyrd Skynyrd come to town just to make some money.
It is very hard to believe that the Equestrian Center does not have enough parking space.
Unless a lot of the grounds are off limits to vehicles due to possible damage to the dirt.
Why can’t it be held at the little airport right up the road from the fire station? Plenty of space for parking and all the usual activities. BTW, I remember seeing Taylor Swift at the sausage festival and didn’t think she was that good…shows how much my opinion is worth!
Outgrew itself. The Stump Band was just fine with me.
Maybe it could rise again using locale entertainment like The Crosstown Band and other GOOD local bands. Maybe someone DOES have a barn and/or some land they would donate for use once a year. I hope so. I do not really care for sausage, but I loved to go anyway.
Sorry to hear this.
I guess all proceeds were handed out after each prior event.
Thus leaving no reserves to be used for launching the following years event.
My wife and I will certainly miss the festival. We have been attending since 1990 and I remember it was the first festival of the season that we attended We enjoyed the venue there across from the fire department, laid on blankets and listened to local musical groups and ate, of course, the wonderful sausage dogs,browsed the arts and crafts and had a relaxing time. It really seemed so personal and a community activity. When it moved to the Equestrian center we didn’t really like that venue but went out for the sausage dogs and to see the Charlie Daniels band but it seemed to have grown bigger,, losts its appeal and not so much of a fun time. When it moved to the fairgrounds the festival regained some of its “small community appeal”. The music acts were fantastic, vendors and crafts were fun to browse through and of course the sausage dogs and cold beer was as good as ever. Would love to see the festival continue somewhere in the area and go back to being the original Beulah Sausage Festival. My kids are grown now but the festival was always a great and safe place to take them when it was in Beulah. Hope to see it return soon. jmg
When you left Beulahs community where everyone who cared showed up and supported it-that was success every year. It was a community function and then it went to my opinion – like a business. I guess no one ever wondered why they didn’t have and don’t have this issue at the elberta sausage festival.
Bring back the old ways in front of the Beulah fire department and keep it a charity – not promote it as a business where you got too big for your pants–and people will come. The old was the best…and still can be this year.
I have been heavily involved in Beulah Sausage Festival/BeulahFest for the past 17 years and it has been my personal opinion to let naysayers say what they want.
I want to weigh in with my opinion!
1. I find it a bit insulting that I see the word GREED thrown around. Not just in today’s comments but it has been used in comments for a few years now. In order for us to be greedy, that would imply that the organizers are making money. The festival had been planned, organized, and ran COMPLETELY BY VOLUNTEERS. Yes, volunteers…..NO PAY!……..thousands of hours of work all to help charities in our community.
2. “We got too big” – false
When the property that is across the street from the fire station became UNAVAILABLE, we talked about ending it then. The general public didn’t want it to end so we listened. The land across from the fire station looked like an open field; however, there were buried utilities and structures that most people didn’t notice. We looked all over the Beulah community and there was NO land that could used for even a small festival.
The only available place in the Beulah area was the Equestrian Center. In order to have the festival it was going to cost more (hence an increase in gate price at that time). This venue worked ok but it never really fit the festival. As the Equestrian Center started securing more horse events, the center expanded and that expansion took away over 5 acres of parking space.
We moved to the fairgrounds to “get back” to the open air music that, again, the general public had shown interest in.
3. It saddens my heart to see the festival end; however, I consider myself extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of wonderful individuals through my many years with the festival. From year 1 to year 28, the entire reason the festival was started stayed exactly the same…..to help others.
Again, this MY opinion, and for all the naysayers that “know they could do it better” I invite them to go ahead.
Agreed! Go back to being the Beulah Sausage Festival!
Pay attention Community Organizers………The PEOPLE know what they want…. Once again, greed has caused the downfall of another FAMILY outing.
I totally agree with the other comments. I have had no desire to go to this festival since the good ole days. What a shame, and I have thought that for years!
I AGREE the festival was BEST when it was more COMMUNITY and FAMILY oriented ! The undoing is from GREED more than anything!
Outgrew it’s self.
Beulahfest will reemerge as it was in the beginning, a local festival showcasing local talent, entertaining locals.
They should have known better than to try and get to big. They think bigger is better and now they know different. If things would have stayed simple and not try and go above their means this would not have happened. I know plenty of people who have not been in the past few years because they keep moving it, making all the changes (that are not necessary) and trying to get bigger than the last. So not right…. Hope the folks are happy now!
How sad! I think that the festival had gotten just too big. I know it’s been said in the past, but maybe the board could take a lesson from the Elberta Sausage Festival…keep it close to home, and maybe involve some cheaper, less bigger names. It’s my understanding that the Elberta Sausage festival was inspired by Munich’s Oktoberfest but was supposed to retain it’s “hometown” feeling. Personally, I’d much rather go to a festival in the country, in a barn, out in the hay fields as opposed to the fair grounds. We already have an interstate fair once a year…and it’s big enough. Just my 2¢.