Pittsburg Seafood and Music Festival comes to an end after 40 years

PITTSBURG For four decades the city has attracted visitors to its Seafood and Music Festival But without its traditional encouragement it will now be no more Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce CEO Wolfgang Croskey disclosed historically the city and the chamber partnered to organize the event However after the COVID- pandemic Croskey announced the city no longer provided assistance or subsidized services causing the full financial burden and fundraising efforts to fall on the chamber I can t speak to why they made that decision and I can only speak for the years that I ve been involved I would say that ever since we came back from COVID it is when they started invoicing us announced Croskey in an interview with this news organization Croskey stated the chamber would need to raise around for the festival and pay the city for its services Last year the chamber was billed around by the city for the festival and about in The bulk of the cost to produce the festival went toward critical services such as insurance event permits and police staffing Without a strong partnership with the city the cost of city-required services alone makes it impossible to produce a festival that meets the standards our society expects and deserves mentioned Croskey The last two years the festival lost money and so that s why doing it a third time it s just not a good business decision The chamber also explored various options to continue the festival in its current format but was unable to close the financial gap to maintain its quality and scale The festival typically held in September has been part of the city since It was created to spotlight the city s Old Town sponsorship local businesses and put Pittsburg on the map as a destination for visitors Despite the decision to end the festival Croskey mentioned the chamber is busy working on another event to achieve similar goals I can t share all the details on that but it s definitely not a festival because festivals are oversaturated in the Bay Area Everybody s got a festival for this and that they are everywhere mentioned Croskey But we re looking at other options to bring people using entertainment Countless residents and vendors have contacted Croskey after learning of the festival s end For vendors the festival was part of the revenue they depended on he noted Although it s sad and disappointing I think it s an opportunity to create something new announced Croskey Although years is quite a legacy and there are lots of memories those memories don t die they get to be woven into what makes Pittsburg such a wonderful city