Butter & Egg parade seeking donations

<p>Organizers of the city's annual Butter & Egg Days Parade say that they will again face funding problems this year, but expect the parade to go ahead with support from community and business donors.</p><p>Last year, the city announced that for the first time it would not be able to pay for police, paramedics and other staffing needed for the 30-year old parade, which draws more than 20,000 people. That left a $25,000 hole in the budget for the event, which organizers were able to fill with a hurried fund-raising campaign.</p><p>The Petaluma Downtown Association is again working to fill that budget gap in 2011 and raise money toward the total $120,000 cost of the parade. But they say that the show will go on, as it did last year.</p><p>“We're working with our sponsors to come back and support us this year,” said Marie McCusker, executive director of the Petaluma Downtown Association.</p><p>Besides the cost of workers for the event, last year the city also decided it could not provide $10,000-$20,000 in hotel bed taxes last year.</p><p>“We don't know if there will be any TOT (transient occupancy tax) funding. At this point, it doesn't look like there will,” said McCusker.</p><p>But organizers expect a number of sponsors to continue their support this year, including Clover Stornetta, Kaiser Permanente, Bank of Marin, Wells Fargo, Petaluma Refuse and Recycling, Lagunitas Brewery and CamelBak.</p><p>Organizers are currently seeking further donations and working to determine the exact amount that will be needed. Not all of the $120,000 cost will come from donations, as business fees and other sources contribute to the parade, which will be held on April 16 this year.</p><p>McCusker said that the parade is a big revenue boost for the city in tough economic times.</p><p>“It's the biggest parade in the North Bay,” she said. “It brings people to our hotels and fills our restaurants. People stay the whole weekend because we've got the antique fair right behind it.”</p><p>The Petaluma Downtown Association is currently accepting donations from businesses and individuals and can be reached at 762-9348.</p><p>McCusker said that with the boost that the parade provides to the local economy, “whatever you invest in this parade you get 10 times back.”</p><p>(Contact Philip Riley at philip.riley@arguscourier.com)</p>