Chasco Fiesta Rolls On Despite Setbacks

Kristen King had her work cut out for her this past year.

It’s her first year as executive director of , the long-running, multi-day festival that has become tradition in downtown New Port Richey. In addition to being a community event, Chasco bills itself as providing a way for nonprofits to raise funds and attention for themselves.

Months after the previous Fiesta ended, city officials raised the possibility of cutting subsidies of city services to special events. The proposal triggered heated discussions between the city and event planners, but it resulted in the city pledging to pay about half as much to support Chasco this year as it did last year.  

This year, King and planners on the Chasco Fiesta Steering Committee, had to make cuts to the festival but also add responsibilities. 

Chasco planners cut two days from the festival: It was 11 days last year but will be nine days this year.

“With the discussions we had with the city, they said it would lower their costs to drop it to nine,” King said in an interview.

and officials proposed eliminating all of its subsidy of city services of special events. This comes in the form of police, fire rescue, parks and recreation and public works support for the parades and parties that are held in the city limits.

Chasco alone cost the city $88,000 last year, according to officials.

The proposal was met with , although some in the public . In October, the city and Chasco compromised, and the city council pledged to subsidize $40,000 in city services to support the fiesta.

So in addition to making cuts to the event, including $20,000 in television advertising, Chasco had to take on responsibilities that the city used to subsidize.

That means putting on the fiesta is “going to be harder because we have to have a tremendous amount of volunteers this year,” King said in an interview.

In addition to being a community event, Chasco bills itself as providing a way for nonprofits to raise funds and attention for themselves.

According to a blog post by King, volunteer duties include “picking up all the trash in Sims Park and around Orange Lake, checking the ladies restroom hourly, putting up all the orange fencing, and locking crowd control barricades the day of the street parade.  That's on top of the things we already needed volunteers for such as selling tickets and t-shirts, taking surveys, helping with hospitality, and various other things.”

The city pledge came with the expectation that the city and Chasco would agree on a memorandum of understanding that outlines what Chasco and the city are responsible for paying for to support the event.

That MOU and the pledge became an issue earlier this month when Chasco planners requested that the city cap be raised to account for unforeseen costs.

City council members were loathe to change it.

“That is the cap,” said Councilman Bob Langford. “We have to budget as well you do, and that’s our cap."

The debate ended with the city and King agreeing that if the city had miscalculated its estimate of Chasco's costs, it would have to pay the overage. If Chasco’s costs to the city are higher because of a failure on its end, it would be responsible for the paying the excess. 

King said she thinks that’s "fair."

She and City Manager John Schneiger have described the overall negotiations between the city and Chasco as amicable. City staff has been "fantastic," King said.

“It’s been a learning experience,” said King, who worked for the United Way as director of community investment before she took the job at Chasco. “It’s been sometimes frustrating. At the end of the day, I think we’re (both) trying to do the same thing. “

And what is that?

“I think we both just want to better the community,” she said.

Chasco is looking for volunteers. If you want to volunteer, you can download a form online at the Chasco website. contact Kristen King at Kristen.king@chascofdiesta.com or call (727) 842-7651. You can can also call Carole Pearson at 727-809-1632.