About Us
Mountain Harvest Festival General Information
Mountain Harvest Festival is a non-profit “public charity” (gifts to us are tax deductible) whose major annual fund raiser and (“fun raiser”) is a three-day festival held in Paonia, CO on the last full weekend in September. It is a community-oriented event, which seeks to benefit the local economy by providing entertainment by local musicians, writers of poetry and prose, dancers, comedians, and various other dramatists; organizing a sales outlet for local growers, artists and crafts-persons; conducting agriculture-based workshops; and supporting charitable causes.While the festival has many aspects, music does play a large part, both as a featured event (the Friday night Pub Crawl and the Saturday Night concerts) and as an adjunct to other events. The musicians, many of whom are seasoned professionals who regularly command large fees, come together on this weekend in the spirit of giving back to the community. Everyone participates in an egalitarian spirit where there are no “headliners” or “stars” and all artists are encouraged to shine. At Paonia’s community-oriented event, all agree to participate at a similar pay rate in order to keep the ticket prices affordable so that everyone can enjoy the party.
Paonia’s festival is a celebration of local harvests – agricultural producers, artists, writers, and crafts-persons. While music is a constant accompaniment, festival goers are encouraged to visit farms and wineries, shop at the big Farmers Market, purchase local wine and beer at the beverage tent, enjoy the Rotary Club’s brunch made from local produce, visit local arts venues, listen to recitations of our local poetry and prose, and make purchases at the arts and crafts booths. There are also numerous agriculture and music related workshops to engage the interest of visitors.
Finally, and very importantly, the festival provides a fine venue or platform for other local non-profit organizations to raise funds for their charitable works. More of them take advantage of the opportunity each year.
Thus, the festival is different from other festivals in Colorado. It is much more than a music festival. Instead, we showcase local (“western slope”) performers in all areas of performance art who are enthusiastic about giving something to our community. We ensure that food, arts and crafts are almost strictly local. Our uniqueness draws many local and out of town visitors, all of whom thoroughly enjoy themselves. Those things taken together make up our local harvest – the spirit of the festival.
Service to Community
Mountain Harvest Festival Service to Community
A PUBLIC CHARITY – PROMOTING EDUCATION, THE ARTS AND AGRICULTURE ON THE WESTERN SLOPE OF COLORADO.The Mountain Harvest Festival is a not-for-profit corporation, a “public charity” in IRS terminology. The corporation holds an annual event during the last full weekend of September in Paonia, CO. The festival is carried out with a mostly volunteer work force. Its focus has changed over time. It began as a community celebration aimed at uniting the community around the single idea that our valley is a pretty wonderful place to live. It has grown to embrace a central charitable focus in which the Festival is no longer the objective of the organization. The Festival is now the vehicle through which funds are raised to support education and to support the work of other local 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations.
Our Statement of Purpose and Support, which was adopted March 2009, reflects this transition. It states: “The Mountain Harvest Festival corporation is dedicated to charitable work including: (1) providing scholarship awards to secondary school students, (2) providing educational opportunities to the general public, (3) supporting the work of other public charities in our community, (4) promoting literacy in prose and poetry, and (5) supporting agricultural and food sciences. Most of this work is supported through an annual event, the Mountain Harvest Festival, that celebrates the agricultural harvest and the richness of music and the arts in Paonia and the valley of the North Fork of the Gunnison River.”
The Festival has become the second largest event held in Paonia annually and the only one whose focus is on charitable goals. It has become a very important event for our local not-for-profits, who report significant funds raised during the Festival. It also benefits the economy of our small, economically depressed, rural area by providing a significant boost to the for-profit economy, particularly at our lodging facilities and restaurants.
The Mountain Harvest Festival corporation derives almost all of its financial support from two sources (1) donations from the local community, including businesses and individuals, and (2) sales at the event. Now that we have been recognized as a public charity (gifts to us are tax deductible), we will develop other avenues of sponsorship, including donations from private citizens and grants from foundations.
MHF Board
Mountain Harvest Festival Board of Directors
General information about the Festival Board and its functions in relation to the Festival.Brief bios,
Picture of the Board
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