The Lady of the Lake Society has stated it should not be held accountable for this year’s pending Lake Days deficit budget, as “there has never been any funding.”
Lake Days recently declared a total of $1,800 was received from the Lady of the Lake Ball in 2013.
This year however, Lady of the Lake has decided to hold onto those funds, but chair Denise Allan explained that the money always ended up back in the society’s pocket anyway.
“We always put money into Lake Days in a very roundabout way,” she said. “For years, Lake Days ran the Lady of the Lake Ball on the Friday night of Lake Days which is a big deal for our girls. Lake Days always paid for the hall and the insurance and Lady of the Lake, which is a separate society, decorated, hired the caterers, cleaned up — we did everything. Whatever money was made from the ball say it was $1,000, $1,500 or $800, Lady of the Lake gave back to Lake Days. So Lake Days holds title (to the ball) and Lady of the Lake sub-contracts, does all the work and gives Lake Days the profit, which we were quite happy to do. Then, six months later, Lady of the Lake went to the Lake Days AGM, as we need the money to decorate for the ball, and said we think we’ll need $1,000, $750 or whatever it is, and they’ve happily said sure.”
This year instead of just trading the money in that roundabout way, the Lady of the Lake Society instigated that it take on the ball and keep the money that is made, which Lake Days agreed to.
“That sounded good to us,” said Allan. “We had a meeting with Lake Days chair Bob Day in March and he happily agreed to it. He proposed we take over the strawberry tea as well, which was the same thing. Lake Days always headed the strawberry tea and Lady of the Lake showed up to help, even though there was no money to be made there. We are all volunteers. Bob did talk about the stage and said that it is there for the Lady of the Lake and it costs this much to decorate so you guys do it. We said we have a committee of six so don’t think we can do it this year, perhaps in the future. Everything was fine. We are just taking on the tasks we already do anyway.”
Lake Days argument is that the main reason for the stage being there is for the crowning of the Lady of the Lake girls, but Lady of the Lake Society disagrees.
“That stage is there all weekend,” said Allan. We are on the stage for maybe 45 minutes. That stage does not belong to Lake Days, it was given to us to use by my friend Cliff Gibson. We’ve never asked them to spend money to decorate it, we don’t really care. We just need a stage to crown our girls.”
Lady of the Lake float coordinator Rob Frost believes no money is needed to decorate the stage these days anyway.
“This year we are taking on the ball so if there is any losses, they’re coming from us,” he said. “We’re going on a risk as well. As far as the $300 goes to decorate the stage, Bob told us he has the decorations in his house so I don’t know where that is in effect at all.
“We are an independent society. We operate all year round, not just at Lake Days. Any money made at the ball, stays in the ball and doesn’t go to Lady of the Lake in any other way.”
Lady of the Lake treasurer Tanya Kaul said that the ball account and the society’s general account are two separate accounts and the money from each is never crossed over.
“Up until last year we had no access to the ball account,” said Kaul. “It’s important to note that a big draw on the Saturday at Lake Days is for the crowning. People go in to watch the crowning, so we’re generating income for Lake Days. We’re not getting any of that income.”
Frost agreed.
“We have no connection with them other than we think we’re doing a service for them. We have no obligation to go to a Lake Days meeting, and none of them come to our meetings and say what do you need help with either. Denise has tried to make a better connection by taking some stuff on that we’re already doing.”
Lake Days recently claimed that the celebration is approximately a $20,000 event.
“20,000? Maybe in New York City,” said Allan. “We are all just volunteers. So is Bob Day and so is Gil Mauro. I don’t know why they’re shooting arrows at us.”
