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Dark and Stormy film festival outlines October 2026 target dates, seeks sponsorship to expand program
Summary
Organizer Jessica told LTAC the Dark and Stormy Nights Film Festival is tentatively planned for October 2026 with Ocean Shores Cinema as the primary venue and hotel/satellite spaces as backups. She said early private donations and personal funding cover a base festival, but sponsorships and grants were needed to realize a larger $44,000 program.
Jessica, a festival organizer, told the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee she is targeting mid‑October 2026 for the Dark and Stormy Nights Film Festival with the Ocean Shores Cinema as the primary venue and local hotels and the Oiha Can event center available as satellite or overflow spaces. She said venue contracts were tentative because many venues will not confirm dates more than a year in advance, but that she had secured a tentative reservation and a tentative plan to coordinate the festival with Freaks at the Beach market to encourage cross‑attendance.
Jessica said the festival had received a $2,000 donation and that she and a small related business had committed personal funds to seed the event. She reported that two larger grant streams (Washington Arts grants; Grays Harbor county LTAC for in‑county uses) either had not funded or were unavailable for Ocean Shores productions, forcing budget adjustments. Her planning document included phased budgets: a $44,000 "dream" plan, and scaled options that would still allow a festival if sponsorships fall short.
Committee members asked about confirmed venues, marketing plans and sponsor prospects. Jessica said she had already solicited discounts from national trade publications and local media and that FilmFreeway submissions had opened the same day as the meeting. She agreed to follow up with venue confirmations and a detailed sponsorship plan for committee review.
