Beaver THE OAKVILLE Voted Ontario's Top Newspaper Four Years in a Row - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 www.brantflorist.com/ob www.dentistoakville.com 905.639.7001 905-842-6030 Grey matters matters Page 14 www.carstaroakville.com 905-8457579 905-847 -2595 2212 Wyecroft Rd. 547 Trafalgar Rd. A member of Metroland Media Group Ltd. Vol. 52 No. 146 "USING COMMUNICATION TO BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES" THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2009 24 Pages $1.00 (plus GST) Plug pulled Visit with Santa on Oakville Waterfront Festival Popular festival sunk by $30,000 deficit By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Those looking forward to the 2010 Oakville Waterfront Festival will have to make other plans. After 18 years, the three-day festival has been cancelled indefinitely. The reason behind the decision is a lack of funding. The 2009 festival created a $30,000 deficit that was greater than the cash reserve could absorb. The budget for the 2009 festival, which ran June 2628 at Coronation Park, was approximately $500,000. That figure is about half of previous budgets for the festival in its earlier years. The festival operates primarily on sponsorship dollars, which have not been as prevalent in recent years, according to Kirk Sloane, board chair of the Oakville Waterfront Festival and volunteer for the past 10 years. "We had an issue with finding sponsors and having them contribute beyond what was expected," he told The Oakville Beaver. The festival traditionally draws about 110,000 people over the course of the weekend. Low attendance numbers due in part to inclement weather did not help this year's financial situation. NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER CHRISTMAS PHOTO: Two-year-old Daniel Ceravolo smiles for the camera while sitting on Santa's knee after the jolly old elf's arrival by train at Hopedale Mall on Saturday afternoon. See Oakville page 7