News Photo by Steve Schulwitz New Michigan Brown Trout Festival President Phil Paquette helps volunteers display festival merchandise at the boat harbor in Alpena on Friday.

ALPENA — New Michigan Brown Trout Festival President Phil Paquette said Friday that, if people want to keep the festival as it is, more people need to attend the events and register to fish in the tournament.

He said the goal of the 10-day festival isn’t to make a large profit, only to cover costs and pay local charitable groups for the time they donate to help.

Paquette said last year’s festival collected too little revenue to pay all of the groups in full.

That can’t be the case moving forward, he said.

He said the festival’s success or lack thereof will determine the future of the festival, and changes could be in the works if numbers don’t improve.

“This is a critical year, and the festival is really at a crossroad, and this is kind of a make or break year for it,” Paquette said. “Basically, all of our revenue streams have been declining, including revenue from sponsors, the small tent, and from events in the big tent.”

Paquette said sponsors have stepped up big this summer and numbers seem to have rebounded somewhat, but that is only a small piece of the financial puzzle.

To keep the festival as long and large as it is, Paquette said, event organizers are focusing on stabilizing it and making sure it is standing on solid ground so it can fulfill its commitments, especially the local charitable groups who offer volunteers to help run the festival.

Any change in the event would likely not be received well by the community, as the event has been a staple in Alpena for 50 years.

Still, finding needed volunteers has been challenging, and inflation has hurt the bottom line, Paquette said.

So, he said, if attendance and spending doesn’t improve, changes are only natural to consider.

“We are really relying on the community to attend the festival,” he said.

To help lure more people to the harbor, Paquette said that the event — for this year, at least — has been enhanced. He said there are more vendors and more live entertainment, including national acts such as Billy Gunther and the Midwest Riders tonight and rock band L.A. Guns on July 27. Paquette said festival-goers also are excited for the performance of Bobby Rigg and the Sensational All-Star Band, which will feature many local musicians.

“For the 50th anniversary, I didn’t want to cut anything, so everything is as big or bigger than it’s been,” he said. “I think we have complemented our food vendors, our entertainment in both the big and small tent, and it will be a good time. We just need to get the people out to enjoy everything.”

If things go well this year, Paquette said, he has a long-term vision for festival week.

He said he would like to see other large-scale events that coincide with the Brown Trout Festival, which would give people more to do, especially people from out of town.

He said a large car show, like one held in St. Ignace each summer, would be a good idea, or something else that has the allure to draw thousands of people to Alpena.

“Having events all around the area would make it so people from out of town would look at, say, ‘Yeah, that’s worth traveling for.'”

The festival kicked off on Friday and fishing begins today.

The festival wraps up with an award ceremony on July 28.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.