Salisbury council agrees to $86,000 city contribution for 2025 Maryland Folk Festival

Council members on March 10 gave consensus to proceed with a request to appropriate $86,000 from the city budget as Salisbury’s contribution to the 2025 Maryland Folk Festival.

The request came from Scott Roberts, Assistant Director of Arts, Business and Culture, and Caroline O'Hare, Events and Culture Manager, who described the money as funding for “staffing, production fees, artist fees, equipment, staging, and lighting.” Roberts said the city’s requested contribution for 2025 is $86,000.

The item matters because staff said the $86,000 primarily covers the festival events manager’s salary historically paid from a special revenues account; that practice will change in FY26. A staff member explained the accounting shift to the council, saying the manager’s salary has been charged to the festival account in prior years but will move into the general fund budget for FY26 so departmental line items will appear higher even though general-fund totals will not change.

Roberts and O'Hare described the festival as a three-day event that draws local businesses and visitors. “Last year, we had 3 beautiful days. We had an incredible square dance event on Saturday night and we're hoping to bring that back and make that a tradition,” Caroline O'Hare said. She added the festival has returned sponsors and reported $139,500 in committed sponsorships to date, and that some grants are still pending award in July.

Council members asked whether the $86,000 was a temporary loan or the city’s contribution; staff replied it is the city’s contribution. Roberts said the previous festival appropriation was $587,000 but that no appropriation for the current year had previously been made. Council gave consensus to proceed with the funding request by voice vote (no recorded roll call on the floor).

Public comment during the meeting included a resident critical of the festival's publicly circulated attendance and economic-impact estimates; Riley Smith (resident) questioned a cited attendance estimate of 20,000 and challenged the festival's projected economic-impact figures. Smith’s remarks were part of the meeting’s public-comment period and were not entered as a formal challenge to the funding request.

The council did not adopt a final ordinance for the appropriation at this meeting; staff characterized the current step as approving the request to proceed and incorporate the appropriation in upcoming budget materials. The budget and accounting change described by staff indicates the events manager’s salary will be shown under the general fund in FY26 rather than as a transfer into a special-events account.

Caroline O'Hare and Scott Roberts were present to answer questions and the council indicated support to move forward with the requested appropriation.

Looking ahead, staff said grants and sponsorships remain in progress and that more detailed budget items will appear in the FY26 materials and at future council sessions.