Pittsburgh, PA’s oldest cultural event, the annual Pittsburgh Folk Festival, has been cancelled for 2009 due to a “lack of adequate funding.” Organizers hope the 52-year-old folk festival, which had been scheduled for May 1-2 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, will resume next year.

Featuring music, crafts, food and dance, the Pittsburgh Folk Festival’s primary source of funding comes from corporate sponsors, some of whose funding has dried up this year. Staging of the event costs at least $100,000.


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“It was a very difficult decision that was not easily made,” Karen Hall, president of the Pittsburgh Folk Festival board, said in a statement. “We looked at our current funding stream against our potential expenses, and it just wasn’t possible.”

The festival is the region’s only “all volunteer, nonprofit celebration of multicultural diversity,” as described on its Web site.