Montrose Music Festival organisers have moved to silence critics who claim the charity is awash with money.
Chairman David Paton said he feels there is a perception that the festival is making thousands of pounds of profit and that it is important festival-goers know some of the costs involved.
He said: “We have felt that there is a belief that MoFest is a commercial venture and we make thousands on the gigs especially the East Links gigs which featured Status Quo and Madness but we don’t.
“We are a registered charity run by a group of local volunteers and we rely on the public and the local businesses for support.”
The figures show that the profit from putting on a sold-out concert with rock band Ash at Montrose Town Hall was only £467.44.
The cold, hard facts about cash #mofeststats pic.twitter.com/ND7dguD7Xz
— Montrose Music Fest (@MoFestofficial) September 16, 2015
The cost of putting on the free High Street festival this year was £13,188 due to the expense of sound and lighting, erecting the stage, first aid provision, road closures, bins and the food and drink area.
Policing and security costs at MoFest 2015 increased by 146% to £5,610.
MoFest’s main source of income came from sales of the programme. More than 1,700 were sold but this is only 14% of the 12,000 people who are thought to have attended this year.
“Each year the festival gains in popularity but with that comes more costs for us,” Mr Paton added.
“We need to fund these costs, which in this climate is not easy.
“All we ask is that if you come to MoFest, you purchase a programme or some merchandise from us and consider that your ticket for the weekend’s free events.”
There were more than 270 hours of free music at this year’s MoFest. The 26 venues taking part in this year’s event paid more than £37,000 in band fees during the weekend of live music. Around 110 bands took part this year, across nine musical genres.
People travelled to MoFest from all over Britain and even as far away as New Zealand.
This year’s festival is estimated to have brought £750,000 into the local economy.
A survey conducted at the festival estimated that more than 40,000 pints were consumed and that four out of five people were “very satisfied” with the event.
It is estimated that MoFest’s volunteer committee gave up around 5,000 hours to organise the festival weekend 17 days each. This includes around 33 hours each listening to music for the festival.