Parade Rest? Not in Garden Grove

Garden Grove’s Strawberry Festival Parade has been preserved, thanks to a fundraising campaign that got organizers out of a jam with nearly $42,000.

The Memorial Day weekend parade is one of the highlights of the four-day festival that attracts about 250,000 people annually.

In November, festival organizers said they faced a dilemma: Whether to use festival funds intended for charity groups to cover a $40,000 increase in security and insurance costs, or to cancel the parade.

Instead, event organizers decided to seek financial sponsors for the first time in the history of the 47-year-old festival. Previously, media sponsors have donated advertising.

Festival publicist Judy Cooper began soliciting contributions in November and 22 businesses and elected officials have pitched in.

A $10,000 donation from the local Nissan dealership and $7,500 from Time Warner cable, the largest single donations, helped seal the deal. Mayor William Dalton issued a challenge to other local politicians that brought in an additional $6,500, Cooper said.

“Every dollar we don’t spend on something for us,” festival board president Bob Kessler said, “goes to some group ... that needs it.”

This year the festival will pay $20,000 to the city for security, up from $10,000 last year and $5,000 in 2003. The increase, Kessler said, is because the city is trying to recoup more of its expenses due to the state’s budget crisis.

In addition, insurance premiums have jumped to $43,000 from $17,000, Kessler said, reflecting in part the requirement that the festival take out more insurance to reduce the city’s liability.

The festival was founded in 1958 -- when Garden Grove was a leading producer of strawberries -- as a way for high schools and service groups to raise money.

Money raised through booth rental fees and carnival rides has allowed the festival to donate more than $4.2 million to local groups.

The Strawberry Festival’s board voted Tuesday to donate $74,500 to local charities, including $25,000 to the Boys & Girls Club for a school bus, $7,000 to schools for band equipment and $3,000 for the Fire Department to buy a “Jaws of Life” extraction tool.