Poor weather keeps attendance down at OutFest

ANN ARBOR –
Organizers of OutFest, the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project, were hoping a move from September/October to August would bolster the success of the event. Instead, the pattern of decreasing attendance continued, thanks in part to damp and chilly weather more typical of the fall than the month that's traditionally the hottest of the year. Ironically, unpredictable early autumn weather conditions were behind the decision to move the event up by a month or so. But the cold apparently followed OutFest as temperatures dipped into the 50s.
"I could not believe it," said Michael G. McGuire, coordinator of OutFest's steering committee, said of the weather "I just could not believe it."
Jeremy Merklinger, another steering committee member and a longtime WRAP volunteer, was likewise shocked.
"Nobody called for that, so it was just weird," said Merklinger. "It was supposed to be 72 and sunny all day. That's what everybody said it was going to be."
Instead, it was crisp and overcast, and by 6 p.m., two hours after the event's start time, it had begun to sprinkle. And as the evening progressed, it only grew colder and wetter.
Organizers say about 300 people passed by throughout the evening, or about 900 less than the event drew just three short years ago. McGuire said the dwindling numbers are no more than the result of a string of bad luck.
"The weather last year was awful," he said. "Clearly the number of people last year could be attributed to the weather. I'm not going to think that there's any kind of downward trend because the weather really hasn't been great the last two years and I think that's the biggest factor. Then I think that summertime is when people go on trips and that sort of thing."
Once WRAP's biggest annual fundraiser, the agency has been forced to reduce its dependence on it.
"We've been trying over the last couple of years to not be as financially dependent on big fundraisers," Merklinger said. "We're trying to get larger donors and get our finances to be more level throughout the year."
Merklinger said that OutFest did make money this year, but that if the numbers continue to shrink, the continuation of the event will need to be reviewed.
"If we continue to have dwindling numbers in the next couple of years, where there's only 200 to 400 people coming out, I think we'd need to reevaluate how we're doing things."