Grassrootz organisers explain the decision to make 2005 festival the last.

THE GRASSROOTZ festival spoke about its decision to finish the event, which was run in Tunbridge Wells from 2000 to 2005. A press release read, "To stay fresh and entertaining a festival must grow every year, both in size and numbers. Grassrootz has done this successfully every year, going from a single stage event to more and more stages and activities each year ending with the addition of a Big Top Performance Cafe in 2005. All this costs money, however, with the total bill last year being in excess of £80,000. The numbers attending were slightly less than the year before, at around 3000 people. More than half the cost of the festival each year has come from kind donations from local churches and individuals alike. This huge amount of money cannot be sustained indefinitely and we believe an event should not continue to run at such a loss. Local churches and individuals were starting to struggle to cover the ever increasing costs."  CR

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