By Brittany Hanson/Garden Grove Journal
City-sponsored holiday events in Stanton will be taking a hit for the rest of 2011 and into 2012 due to budget constraints.
The city has been hosting five annual events for major holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, Easter and Veterans Day, as well as other events like the Stanton Car Show.
A total of 13,000 people attend these events throughout the year.
The events, managed through the parks and recreation division of the city, have been a big draw over the years for families with small children.
However, the events are costly and although the city council and staff have held off cutting the programming for the city children, the expenses can no longer be ignored.
This means no snow at Christmas for sledding, trick-or-treating during the day to save lighting costs and seriously scaled back services provided for other events.
“There won’t be any snow, nothing like that at all,” said Jim Box, parks and recreation director at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
The Stanton Community Foundation has stepped in by pledging to procure funding or sponsorships for the events, although the resources are limited without further outside contribution.
“I know that several businesses in the city would like to donate money to perpetuate the events,” said David Shawver, mayor pro tem.
Box said that the events would be scaled down to better match funds provided through the SCF.
Also, by staffing the events with only full-time employees money could be saved.
“No part-time staff would be permitted to work these events,” said Box. Scaled- down Halloween will cost $5,500, Veteran’s Day will cost $300, Christmas $2,000, Easter $3,000 and the Stanton Car Show will cost $5,000.
