Economic conditions and other factors have temporarily deflated the Ogden Valley Balloon and Artist Festival.
Festival organizers voted Thursday to postpone the annual event, saying the economy, the timing, sponsorship and grant funding issues all contributed to the decision.
"There's some good new enthusiasm on the board. We just had a lot of strikes against us," said Nancy Seraphin, balloon festival spokeswoman and board member.
"We're not calling it a cancellation. We're postponing it until August 2011."
The balloon festival delay is not just because of economic problems, Seraphin said. She is confident the festival could have raised the money, but they didn't have anyone with corporate sales experience.
Festival organizers asked for volunteers at their board meeting and had some come forward, but no one with the time or expertise to sell corporate sponsorships.
The balloon festival costs about $50,000 to put on, Seraphin said; organizers needed to raise $20,000 to $25,000 from corporate sponsors.
Festival organizers also learned they could have qualified for a much larger RAMP grant than the $2,000 they were given.
"The RAMP grant is a huge goal of ours," Seraphin said. "If we can get into that cycle, then we can have money in the bank to plan for the next year. And if our sponsorships exceed what we thought they would, then we don't have to take it (RAMP money) all."
The date of the festival was the source of another conflict.
Weber County has been generous in the past with its equipment, but this year's scheduled festival date would have overlapped with the Weber County Fair, Seraphin said.
Another proposed date conflicted with a motocross event at Powder Mountain. The resort attempted to change its date, but could not reschedule, she said.
Although the events attract different crowds, organizers didn't want to clog local roads.
"We absolutely don't want to add to traffic flow problems," Seraphin said.
One last attempt to change the timing of the balloon festival, she said, would have clashed with a country music event at Snowbasin.
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