More than 15 years after an embezzlement scandal, the annual La Kermesse festival is now facing a lack of municipal funding
By RANDY SEAVER | Editor
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, a handful of volunteers were spotted on St. Louis Field in Biddeford, making preparations for the 43rd annual La Kermesse festival that will begin on June 18.
But the storm clouds that hung over St. Louis Field on Sunday were not isolated.
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Clouds of an uncertain future are also lingering over the once wildly popular Franco-American festival, raising questions about the future viability of the four-day cultural celebration.
In May, the Biddeford City Council broke with longstanding tradition and flatly denied the organization’s annual $15,000 funding request.
The city’s funding denial caught volunteers and festival organizers off guard, leaving them scratching their heads and trying to understand why the city abruptly reversed course on a more than 40-year tradition of municipal support.
“I still don’t quite understand it,” said Jessica Quattrone, president of the La Kermesse board of directors. “I was shocked. In one fell swoop, we went from full support to zero. It really blindsided us.”
Quattrone said the council’s decision will not impact this year’s festival, but said her board will need to think carefully about how to move forward in planning future festivals.
The annual festival celebrates Biddeford’s Franco-American heritage, recognizing the cultural and societal contribution of French-speaking immigrants who flocked to the city in the 19th Century for the promise of jobs and an opportunity for a better life.
“I was shocked. In one fell swoop,
— Jessica Quattrone
we went from full support to zero.
It really blindsided us.”
Despite the city council’s refusal to provide any funding, not much will change about this year’s annual festival, Quattrone said.
The four-day festival kicks off on June 18. Following last year’s tradition, the festival’s parade will stretch from Biddeford Middle School on Hill Street directly to St. Louis Field.
The popular fireworks show will begin at dusk on Saturday, June 20.
Ticket/admission prices remain unchanged this year. Admission buttons can be purchased in advance for $12 or for $15 at the gate.
The one-time admission fee provides access throughout the entire four-day festival. On Sunday, admission to the field is free for the public, a tradition that organizers describe as a “community day.”
During a recent interview, Quattrone told the Gazette that festival attendees can expect even more Franco-based musical performances at this year’s event, noting that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find and book French performers.
Quattrone has served as president of La Kermesse for 16 years, and praised all the volunteers who work throughout the year to coordinate the annual event, pointing to the vision of Joseph Plammondon, the festival’s founder who died before the first celebration.
New questions and an uncertain future
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La Kermesse organizers said they knew that the city was facing an especially difficult budget process earlier this year.
A newly elected mayor and several new city councilors struggled to respond to taxpayer concerns, rising municipal costs and the impacts of inflation.
The so-called “social service” portion of the annual budget became especially contentious and vulnerable this year as councilors sought to leave no stone unturned in their search for savings.
Traditionally, the “social service” portion of the city’s annual budget includes funding for community-based non-profit organizations such as the McArthur Library, the Heart of Biddeford, the Biddeford Food Pantry and several others.
As the city council began deliberations about social service spending, Councilor Jake Pierson offered a compromise measure that would only fund 75 percent of last year’s specific social service funding requests.
La Kermesse Treasurer Paul Gagne appeared before the city council on May 19th and offered to cut his organization’s request by 50 percent, asking for $7,500 – a sharp reduction of what has been annually approved for many years.
But Gagne’s offer carried little weight with most of the city council.
In fact, City Council President Roger Beaupre reminded his fellow councilors that La Kermesse receives many indirect financial contributions from the city.
Beaupre – a former treasurer and longtime volunteer at the Franco-American festival – said he could not support giving the festival $7,500 on top of an estimated $3,000-worth of municipal services, including police and fire protection on the field.
Beaupre said the annual festival also receives support from the city’s public works and recreation departments.
But Gagne reminded the council that La Kermesse has long history of making significant financial donations to the city, including providing $25,000 for the installation of an elevator in the Community Center building; new equipment for the public works departments and thousands of dollars in contributions and scholarships to the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology.
“All of our money goes back into the community,” Gagne said. “We’re not here to make a profit. We do this to honor the city’s heritage and improve our community through volunteer activity and collaboration.”
Based on information the council received from Gagne during the budget’s second and final reading, Councilor Abigail Woods suggested restoring 50 percent of the La Kermesse funding request.
Councilor David Kurtz supported the $7,500 proposal offered by Woods, but Councilors Beaupre, Patricia Boston, Dylan Doughty, Jake Pierson and Lisa Vadnais voted against the funding compromise. Councilors Brad Cote and Marc Lessard did not attend the May 21 council meeting.
Echoing concerns he first raised last year, Beaupre described the La Kermesse budget request as “double-dipping,” pointing out that the council is asked each year to provide city services for the annual festival.
“If we’re going to be asked to waive $3,000 in fees, I’m not going to support spending another 7,500 bucks,” Beaupre said. “That actually is $10,500.”
Kurtz pointed out that other social service agencies were facing 25 percent funding cuts, but said La Kermesse would be receiving a bigger cut from their original $15,000 request.
Later in the meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve a $3,000 municipal fee waiver for La Kermesse.
A community tradition struggles
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When making his final plea before the city council, La Kermesse Treasurer Paul Gagne said his organization was rocked by an embezzlement scandal that was first discovered in 2010.
Following a criminal investigation led by the York County District Attorney’s office, those charged with felony crimes agreed to a plea arrangement that calls for repayment of the stolen funds over a period of time.
Gagne said those payments are being restored incrementally, but said the incident caused long term damage to the organization’s financial operations and eroded public confidence and support of the once wildly popular festival.
“It just feels like one thing after another,” Gagne said. “We have been working to rebuild the festival, but this decision by the council feels like we are being singled out and treated differently than every other non-profit entity in the city.”
Other organizations, Gagne said, were asked to accept a 25 percent decrease. La Kermesse, however, was faced with zeros city funding — other than a $3,000 in kind contribution that was always approved in past years.
“Back in the day, we had 35 volunteer directors,” Gagne said. “Now the entire workload is resting on the shoulders of 15 volunteer directors. That’s a big drop.”
Guy Gosselin of Biddeford is a longtime La Kermesse volunteer, a tradition started by his father, Robert Gosselin, one of the Franco-American festival’s founders.
“It’s certainly not like the old days,” Gosselin told the Gazette during a recent interview. “But I am not discouraged. The festival is about family, food and friendship.
“Our ancestors overcame everything thrown at them when they moved down here from Canada,” he added. “They survived, and so will we.”
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