THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080534
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to provide $45,500 to this year's Neptune Festival, guaranteeing that the popular fall festival's most prominent events will continue.
The extra funding, for the Grand Parade and annual fireworks display, comes less than two months after the city took a lucrative summertime events contract away from Virginia Beach Events Unlimited, the nonprofit company that operated the festival.
In other business, the council delayed action for one week on a proposal to end daily trash pickups in the resort strip, saying a compromise might be possible with resort property owners who want the pickups to continue.
Neptune Festival organizers warned in December that the end-of-summer festivities could be endangered by the loss of the summer-event contract.
The council decided that Cellar Door Productions of Virginia, a Virginia Beach-based entertainment company, offered a better value to the city. In voting with the majority, Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said she wanted to do whatever she could to ensure the continued success of the 21-year-old Neptune Festival.
City subsidies, which always had supported the festival, were supposed to be phased out this year, with the city contributing no more than $10,500. At Oberndorf's direction, the city drew up an agreement with Neptune Festival organizers to provide an extra $35,000 to sponsor the parade, fireworks and related expenses. The agreement covers only this year's festival. by CNB