Planet Fitness Named Presenting Sponsor of Rescheduled 2023 Portland Festival
47th annual festival moves to October 6-7 following generous donation
May 25, 2023 (LOUISVILLE, KY) – The 47th Annual Portland Festival has been rescheduled for October 6-7, 2023 following a generous donation from the 21 Louisville-area Planet Fitness locations. Previously scheduled for June 2-3, the Portland Festival had been postponed earlier this month before last-minute community contributions and Planet Fitness’ presenting sponsorship brought the 2023 Festival back to life.
“We are grateful that Rick Kueber and his Planet Fitness team are supporting one of Louisville’s signature community events in a big way,” said Mike Neagle, Portland Festival Treasurer. “Thousands of families can now put the Portland Festival presented by Planet Fitness back on their calendars because of Planet Fitness’ generosity, just a little later in the year.”
Despite the date change, the festival will remain much the same as it has for almost a half century with live music and entertainment, food vendors, carnival-style rides, and the signature neighborhood parade on Saturday, October 7.
“Louisville and particularly the Portland neighborhood has been so supportive of our Planet Fitness clubs dating back to our first club opening in 2012” said GlowBrands CEO Rick Kueber who leads the Louisville-area Planet Fitness franchisee group. “Mike Neagle and his family have been good friends and partners of ours for many years. We’re appreciative of the opportunity to return that support to the neighborhood.”
About Portland Festival, Inc.
Portland Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization built to oversee one of Louisville, KY’s longest-running community festivals. Located on Northwestern Parkway in the Portland neighborhood, the Portland Festival is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to the organization and execution of the two-day, family-friendly and tradition-rich community event.
About GlowBrands
With headquarters in Louisville, KY & Elizabethtown, KY, GlowBrands manages three brands – franchisor of Sun Tan City and leading franchisee of Planet Fitness and Buff City Soap – with more than 350 combined locations and 2,200 team members. GlowBrands provides products, services, and knowledge-based recommendations through trusted friendly client relationships that help our clients look good, feel good, and build confidence in themselves and who they are. GlowBrands owns and operates 40 Planet Fitness locations in Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee with 21 clubs in the Louisville-area.
About Planet Fitness
Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness is one of the largest and fastest-growing franchisors and operators of fitness centers in the United States by number of members and locations. As of May 31, 2023, Planet Fitness had approximately 17.0 million members and more than 2,400 stores in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico and Australia. The Company’s mission is to enhance people’s lives by providing a high-quality fitness experience in a welcoming, non-intimidating environment, which we call the Judgement Free Zone®. Approximately 90 percent of Planet Fitness stores are owned and operated by independent businessmen and women.
The Portland Festival Board comes to you hat in hand today. We’re a month out from the festival and donations are way down this year. A rough outline of the budget looks like this:
Security 11,000
Stage 7,500
Insurance 3,200
Portolets 3,060
Bands 3,000
Permits 2,000
Barricades 1,000
T-shirts 775
Advertising 500
Radios 318
Total: $32,353
Cash on Hand: $15,705
Deficit: -$16,648
That’s the bare minimum with lots of IN-KIND donations along the way.
With this year’s donations of $3,401 and $1,484 of booth rental fees added to the carryover funds from last year’s festival (minus building utilities and expenses of $4,851.34), we currently have $15,705 in cash on hand, leaving us $16,648 short. The money we make the day of the festival won’t cover that shortfall, and even if it did, it wouldn’t leave funds available for next year. We’d rather be the ones that had to cancel the festival than be the ones that didn’t pay someone. We know the community enjoys the festival each year. If we can raise the remaining money before Friday, May 12th, then we will move forward with the 2023 Portland Festival. If not, we will begin the process of returning the monies raised this year.
You can donate online at https://portlandfestival.square.site/
Mail a check to:
Portland Festival Inc
3329 Northwestern Parkway
Louisville, KY 40212
Or donations can be made in person to a board member.
Portland Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (82-3164072) and your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.
Dear Neighbor:
It’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year again! Planning for the 47th annual Portland Festival is in full swing! It is one of the oldest and largest neighborhood festivals in the city of Louisville. We are excited to continue this great tradition which includes a street parade, live bands, vendor booths, an entire block of kid zone entertainment and so much more. This year the festival will be held on Friday, June 2nd, and Saturday, June 3rd, 2023.
We are asking if your organization is willing to donate to this great family event. Your donation will go directly toward costs to put on the festival. Some example expenses are: portalets and hand washing stations (cost $1,500), barricades, picnic tables, and insurance (over $4,000), security ($15,000), city dumpsters, and garbage cans to name a few. All donors will be recognized as a sponsor of the festival in the Portland Anchor, our neighborhood newspaper, and on our Facebook page. Donors at the $200 and up level will be recognized in promotional materials displayed at the event.
Donations* may be mailed to the following address.
Portland Festival Inc
3329 Northwestern Parkway
Louisville, KY 40212
Or donate online at https://portlandfestival.square.site/
*Portland Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (82-3164072) and your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law.
The Portland Festival would not happen without the generosity of our donors. Thank you in advance for your consideration of support for the 2023 Portland Festival. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Call for vendors! The 47th annual Portland Festival is quickly approaching! Don’t miss out on applying for a vendor space for the 2023 Festival on Friday, June 2nd, and Saturday, June 3rd. It is a great opportunity to showcase your merchandise. The Festival draws thousands of people to the historic Portland neighborhood every year featuring a parade, live bands, vendor booths, an entire block of kid zone entertainment and so much more. Click on the link below for an application today! If you have any questions please email boothrental@portlandfestival.org or contact Gregg Whitt, Vendor Chairperson, at 502-901-1590.
Is struttin’ down the middle of the street while everyone hoots and hollers your thing?
IT’S PORTLAND PARADE TIME!
June 4th – Noon, Portland Avenue from 23rd Street to 33rd Street
Download the application and waiver below!
Ya’ll ready for some music! Check out the 2022 music lineup!
Friday – June 3rd
5:30pm – 7:30pm IMG (https://illustrismusicgroup.com/)
8:00pm – 11:00pm Lindsey Lane Band (https://www.lindseylane.com/)
Saturday – June 4th
1:00pm – 2:00pm Central High School Marching Band (https://www.facebook.com/Louisville-Central-High-School-Marching-Yellow-Jackets-100840798196/)
2:30pm – 4:30pm Dallas Cole Band (http://www.thedallascoleband.com/)
5:00pm – 8:00pm The Reclaimers (https://www.facebook.com/The-Reclaimers-Band-481000535767749)
9:00pm – 11:00pm Wyld Ryde (http://www.officialwyldryde.com/)
The 2022 Portland Festival Stage is sponsored by Kentucky Lottery Corporation
Call for volunteers! The 46th (mostly) annual Portland Festival is rapidly approaching! We are in need of volunteers for:
Information Booth
Merchandise Booth
Photo Booth
Trash Pickup
Parade
First Aid
Festival Setup
Festival Breakdown
If you want to volunteer for a shift (or two or three!) for the 2022 Portland Festival, please attend our next Portland Festival meeting, Wednesday, May 18th, 7pm at Festival Building, 3329 Northwestern Parkway.
Call for vendors! The 46th annual Portland Festival is quickly approaching! Don’t miss out on applying for a vendor space for the 2022 Festival on Friday, June 3rd, and Saturday, June 4th. It is a great opportunity to showcase your merchandise. The Festival draws thousands of people to the historic Portland neighborhood every year featuring a parade, live bands, vendor booths, an entire block of kid zone entertainment and so much more. Click on the link below for an application today! If you have any questions please email boothrental@portlandfestival.org or contact Gregg Whitt, Vendor Chairperson, at 502-901-1590.
As most of you know, our last festival was held in 2019. We typically use proceeds from the previous festival as seed capital for the next one. However… We also have a building on Northwestern Parkway that we use to store all the festival supplies and equipment, and it serves as our headquarters during The Festival and throughout the year.
2 years of electricity bills, water bills, sewer bills, taxes, and other building expenses have eaten into our seed capital. In addition to sunk costs, like everyone else, we’re seeing sharp increases in the prices for products and services that are essential to putting on the festival you know and love!
Our insurance costs have more than tripled! We need to buy the insurance to get the Certificate of Insurance before the City will give us permits. And the permit fees…
Do you like the live music at the Festival? The stage, setup, and rigging was $8,000 in 2019. Great bands rarely drag all their equipment on stage in the summer heat and play for free…
We’re required to keep a certain number of security on site at all times, at considerable expense…
With your help, we can preserve The Festival experience you’ve come to expect. Our goal is to raise at least $10,000 from the community to pay for many of the frontloaded costs of the festival. If we’re unable to reach our goal, we’ll need to scale things back, and hope that we’ll have enough left over for the 2023 Portland Festival.
We’re not asking for much. If we got $10 from 1,000 folks, or $5 from 2,000, we’ll be all set! Give what you can so that we can all enjoy one of the best event in Louisville, let alone Portland!
You can make an online donation on our Square website @ https://portlandfestival.square.site or to donate via cash or check, e-mail portlandfestivalinfo@gmail.com, or mail to: The Portland Festival, 3329 Northwestern Parkway, Louisville, KY 40212, or call 502-901-1590.
