PORT ANGELES — An estimated 15,000 people braved wet weather to attend the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts over the weekend, said Executive Director Anna Manildi.
Port Angeles’ annual four-day festival of music, children’s entertainment and street vendors — all based at the Vern Burton Community Center — ended Monday with a downpour after rain had threatened and sprinkled all weekend.
“But we were able to have all the outdoor music we had planned,” Manildi said Tuesday. “I felt very fortunate.”
Tickets to the festival — which included six stages for more than 125 performances — had not been counted by Tuesday, and the proceeds had not been computed.
But Manildi estimated that 4,000 people bought tickets for the indoor musical performances, joining another 2,000 children, volunteers, vendors and performers, for a total of 6,000 people indoors.
She estimates that the outdoors street fair drew an additional 11,000 people, for a total of 15,000 attending the festival.
“We had about the same amount of people come in the doors [as in 2009] but we had less people at the street fair,” because of the gray skies and chillier temperatures, she said.
“The food vendors did well, but there was less activity for the artisans because of the weather,” Manildi said.
She said the festival typically draws between 15,000 and 18,000 people, and figured that last year — under sunnier skies and despite the Hood Canal Bridge being closed for replacement of the eastern end — the event drew closer to 18,000.
Performances were at the Vern Burton Center, Elks Naval Lodge, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center and Port Angeles Community Playhouse.
This was Manildi’s 10th festival — and her last.
Manildi, 60, took over the festival in 2001, when it was a 7-year-old event.
She will retire this month, with June 30 being her last day.
“We have no replacement yet,” she said. “We’re still in the interview process.
“Hopefully, we’ll have somebody in the next couple of weeks, and certainly by the time I leave.”
The festival’s annual budget is about $220,000, including some $30,000 in in-kind donations of labor, advertising and other services.
The new director’s position will be part-time to start. It perhaps will expand to full time by early 2011, Manildi has said.
The salary and benefits will be negotiated with the successful candidate, festival board vice president Laura Brogden has said.
Manildi said, “There’s a part of me that’s going to miss it a lot. There’s a part of me that will be enjoying whatever new adventure I decide to do.
“It’s a wonderful job.”
For more information about the festival, see www.JFFA.org.
