WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24, 2012--6:15p.m.
RICHLAND CENTER-- It's a popular summer bash--and has been for the last nineteen years. "Some smaller acts that just start off all the way to some large acts who are up and coming on the billboard charts," described Jennifer Perkins. She's talking about the Star Spangled Celebration in Richland Center, of which she is the executive director. "They wait all year and use this as their vacation, their mini vacation is to come to Star Spangled," she said of some of the fans.
Mildred Stanisic owns the Park View Motel which sits just across the street from the park where the event is usually held. "It's our biggest money making event that we have for the whole year," she said."It's totally full all three days."
Perkins says around ten thousand people flood the park for the event some years, but in recent years ticket sales have dropped. "Unfortunately we just do not have the funds to continue."
That's why the Star Spangled Celebration won't be happening any more. She says it easily costs around $800,000 to put the three-day music fest on each year. "It hurts us all knowing that we can't make it work," said Perkins.
Stanisic says she's hoping to sell her motel ASAP to move closer to family. "It's really a great little business," she said of the motel.
But she says the loss of the annual event will likely hurt local businesses. "I'm sure it's going to have a big impact, you know because everybody waits for that day, everybody makes money on those three days."
