• Related article: Saline Celtic Festival returning with new attractions, old favorites

As the Saline Celtic Festival gets underway Friday night, it's doing so under favorable budget conditions, organizers say. That's after some financial struggles in the past.

The festival, which officially started Friday evening after some Thursday pre-events, has been making a profit for the last four years, in part by cutting expenses, said Amber Sotelo, one of the festival chairpersons.

Last year the festival finished with an $8,200 surplus, Sotelo said. It costs $65,000 to run the festival.

More than 3,200 people attended last year's event. That represents a 19 percent increase in attendance from the previous year.

By creating its own nonprofit organization, called Friends of the Festival, the festival has been able to get more sponsorships from businesses that previously were less inclined to write checks to the city of Saline, she said.

"Our area businesses have been so generous. Our fundraising is on track and we received a grant from the Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs for $3,000."

The Celtic Festival, held in Mill Pond Park, celebrates Saline’s sister city relationship with Brecon, Wales, and showcases Celtic music, dancing and athletics.

The festival suffered from bad weather for several years in a row and showed a loss of approximately $15,800 in 2007 and an estimated $18,000 loss in 2008 before turning a $19,700 profit in 2009, and a $3,600 profit in 2010, past reports show. In 2011, it had a $678 profit.

"At one point we had a sizable surplus in the city account that was exhausted during those three years," said Sotelo. "Public opinion on the festival soured because people believed it was causing a drain on the city budget. Perception has been hard to change, but things have gotten better financially for the last five years."

Soleto said that one of the keys to keeping the festival going has been the response from volunteers.

"The bad years re-energized the volunteer spirit," she said. "Every year we are so humbled at the reception we get from area citizens who volunteer at the festival. We welcome people with any type of talent-from the woodworkers who build the stages to the volunteers who participate at the Celtic survivor challenge.

She said there were more than 300 volunteers for the 2012 festival.

This year's festival, the bulk of which is held on Saturday, includes some new features, including a Mastodon Mayhem Challenge, which is a “Warrior Dash” run through the park and will include obstacles, mud, hills, etc. This replaces the previous 5K run, which mostly took place out on the streets, and then ended in the park.

Also new this year is the serving of Michigan craft beers. The festival has invited several Michigan craft breweries—Arbor Brewing Company, Bells, Arcadia Ales, and New Holland Brewery—to set up inside the festival tents and serve their respective grogs. To complement that, the festival has also invited several new food vendors from the Saline Farmers Market.

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