(8/10) At its August 9 workshop meeting, the Thurmont Town Council discussed potential fee changes to Catoctin Colorfest.

At its March 1 meeting, the Town Council approved upping Catoctin Colorfest parking fees for the first time in years and bumped up prices to a recommended $15 per car, with the town collecting four dollars and the vendors collecting $11.

Colorfest brings in untold amounts of money and recognition for local nonprofits and "everybody benefits greatly," Kinnard said.

Colorfest is the single biggest fundraising opportunity for many of the Thurmont community’s local churches, civic organizations, and nonprofits. Kinnard has said for years he has been alright with Colorfest expenses just breaking even for the town because "It shouldn’t cost the residents anything."

But, Kinnard noted, the town hasn’t broken even in a number of years.

Transportation, sanitation, and security are the main costs the town shells out for the festival every year. Total costs for service for 2019’s Colorfest were $63,075 while last year’s Colorfest skyrocketed to $73,969.

"As much as I’d like to say we can keep the same prices year after year, it just doesn’t work that way," Kinnard said.

Last year’s Colorfest saw a smaller crowd due to cautious return from the pandemic and included less vendors than previous years.

Colorfest President Carol Robertson had no problem raising permit fees. However American Legion Post 168 representative Gary Spiegel was not in favor of raising fees for this year, noting that vendors often renew permits the closing Sunday of Colorfest, "So raising the permitting fee for 2022 is not going to sit well," he said.

Kinnard compared the vendor permit prices to the town’s constant yield tax rate, "it’s nice to try to keep it the same rate, but eventually the increases in everything overcome that and you have to make a change to the tax rate, that is no different than this right here," he said.

Kinnard noted it has been a difficult year for residents with the tax increase and to assist in offset costs and encourage more patrons to visit, the council approved to forgo personal yard sale permit fees this year during Colorfest.

Kinnard anticipated this waive may bring in more sales as well as more people drawn into town "It would certainly benefit a lot of our residents if they could have a yard sale to recover from these last two years of economic hardship," he said.

Kinnard was in favor of leaving the price of vendor permits the same this year unless there is a drastic increase in prices. "Once we get our prices for the services we provide this year, I think it will give us a good guide to what we need to increase the fees to," Kinnard said.

If costs for transportation, sanitation, and security increase by more than 15 percent, the council may discuss increasing vendor permit prices. Colorfest bids for services were anticipated to be presented at the Council’s September 6 meeting.