Paul Crate/News Chief

Due to unpaid bills with the city of Winter Haven, the Citrus Festival is having to vacate the premises within 10 days.

"As it stands, the festival is gone and this was the last year," said Greg Marler, a public relations representative for the festival. "We're all hoping for a miracle. At this point in time, I can't see it."

The Citrus Festival and the city have a contractual agreement that allows for the renting of office space and the fairgrounds during the festival.

The most current agreement expired on Nov. 30, 2007, and officials from the festival and the city were in the process of coming together on another agreement that would be retroactive to the past November date, according to Joy Townsend, a spokeswoman for the city of Winter Haven.

The Citrus Festival pays the city $13,644.62 to rent office space yearly. Also, the fairgrounds are rented for $20,500 from the city and the festival pays the city 6 percent of its sales revenue during the fair. The money is due 30 days after the close of the festival, Townsend said.

With this year's inclement weather and the soft economy, festival attendance was down by half. The festival is currently $106,000 in the hole, Marler said.

Representatives at the festival have spent the last three weeks crunching numbers to find a way to pay the money they owe. The resolution they came up with consisted of asking the city to forgive $30,000 worth of rent.

The Citrus Festival currently owes the city $33,733.81 plus 6 percent of its sales revenue for the last festival.

"They flat out told us no," Marler said.

Townsend said that last Wednesday, a Citrus Showcase representative met with T. Michael Stavres, the city's community services director, and requested that the property rent for the 2008 fair be forgiven.

Since that would set a precedent of activity, that request was denied, Townsend said.

"That's not the way to do business. We can't do that," Townsend said.

Townsend said she realizes the Citrus Festival has been around for years, but that precedent would mean that anyone renting space could ask for forgiveness, including the city's downtown properties, and the city cannot give all of them free rent.

"They're the ones that asked for the forgiveness and that's the thing we cannot do," Townsend said.

City Attorney, John Murphy Jr. sent a letter to festival officials on Friday, giving them 10 days to pay the rent. According to the attorney, waiving the fee could violate the Florida Constitution. The state prohibits municipalities from using its taxing power to aid any corporation or association, according to Article seven, Section 10 of the Constitution.

"I am sure you understand that the city is not in a position to jeopardize its fiscal obligations to the taxpayers and citizens of the city of Winter Haven by waiving funds due or allowing the use of its facilities in violation of law and established agreements," Murphy stated in the letter.

A press release form the Citrus Festival said this decision was made after a Winter Haven City Commission workshop.

The decision was not made after a Winter Haven Commission workshop, in fact, the city no longer has workshops, Townsend said. The City Commission has not discussed this issue.

The fairgrounds originally signed the agreement with the city in 2001 that was effective from 2002 to 2006. That agreement was renewed and became effective from 2007 to 2011.

According to Townsend, as of right now, the festival is free to stay until 2011 if the rent is paid.

There is a clause in the agreement that states either side can give a 12-month notice intending to break the agreement for any reason. Since there are no concrete plans to redevelop the area at this time, that notice has not been given to the festival at this point, according to Townsend.

In addition to the money owed to the city, the festival also had other bills to pay. Festival officials owe $5,000 for garbage pick up, $2,000 for water, $16,000 for police protection and $15,000 for diesel fuel to run generators this year, Marler said.

With an increase in costs, fair officials chose to keep entrance fees the same. They even dropped those fees by $1 during the last days of the festival to bring in more people, but that is when the weather kicked in, Marler said.

Marler said the festival was just asking forgiveness for the cost of the rent of the land itself.

"We're trying to keep a community event," Marler said.

The festival has never been a profitable event, it has always broken even or lost money, Marler said.

There are three paid employees with the festival. Bobby Fuqua, the festival director, Linda Fuqua, an administrative assistant, and Michelle Penton, coordinator of special events. The rest of the staff is on a volunteer basis. The staff members were told that the citrus festival was not returning during their end-of-the-year party.

If the festival cannot, or will not, pay the rent owed to the city, then the city will pursue legal action. Included in that action would be that the Citrus Festival must vacate the premises.

As a nonprofit organization, Marler said, the festival does not own anything and there is nothing of value to liquidate other than a few older computers.

There is a Florida statute which gives protection to the directors of the festival from being held responsible for its debts.

"No member, officer, director, or trustee of a fair association shall be personally liable for any of the debts of the association," reads Florida statute 616.07.

"I think we've known for some time that they've been struggling," said Bob Gernert, executive director of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce.

Gernert said that it is tough to see a tradition go away, but there is just so much competition for the public's attention now.

"It is unfortunate but I think it's just a victim of the time," Gernert said.

Gernert said he remembers that 50 years ago one of the most popular variety shows, the Garry Moore Show, was broadcast from the Lake Silver amphitheater for the Citrus Festival. But, he said, it has been years since that kind of entertainment was shown.

The festival's prime years were the 1940s, '50s and '60s, Gernert said. After Disney World was created, it was just harder to attract crowds. Because of this, Gernert said he does not know if the loss of the festival will have that large of an impact.

Marler said he nor any of the other volunteers knew that this year would be the final citrus festival.

"None of us had a clue. We had a feeling we might have a problem toward the end when we had all the bad weather," Marler said.

The main reason that the recreational complex on Cypress Gardens Boulevard has been preserved is for the Cleveland Indians. The goal is to relocate the city's recreational services and to redevelop that property, Townsend said.

The theater and art gallery may be moved to the downtown area and the city is planning to move recreational facilities to a park on Pollard Rd.

The city will look for a redevelopment opportunity that will have a public element to it, such as a lakefront property that would allow for a pool and a personal fitness area, Townsend said.

"The city has changed its mind so many times I don't know what to expect," Marler said.

Marler said that five years ago, the city had a master plan to redevelop the area and move the recreation facility to a park. He said the festival was told there would be room for it there.

Then in December, Marler said they were told there were problems with the land and there was not any room for the festival.

Marler said he was told the development would take place in 2010, which left them with two years to find a location with 100 acres to house the festival.

Marler also said that if officials would have more than two years to move, then they would be able to take out a loan to pay the city and have time to pay back the loan.

kelly.mitchell@newschief.com