Burgas Dropped 200K

That’s a pile of money in Bulgarian terms, especially for a festival that was already carrying twice that amount in accumulated debt.

“I didn’t improve the mess that [previous general manager] Ivan Valkov left for me,” Elenkov told Pollstar.

Valkov ran Spirit Of Burgas for four years, with Elenkov taking over in 2012.

“This year is the worst festival year for the past six years for me.

Our sponsorships and ticket sales were down by more than 50 percent,” Elenkov explained. “We even made significant cuts to save more than euro 500,000 ($662,000) and we’re still facing a huge gap in our budget.

“At this moment, a few days after the festival, I am really not sure how we can proceed further, unless some miracle happens,” he said, adding that he “still believes in miracles.”

Burgas has been rumoured to be in deep trouble for over two years, running up debts to suppliers and a string of other miscellaneous creditors.

This year the local municipality of Burgas shared the euro 750,000 ($993,000) grant it gives the festival among creditors from previous years.

The event also gets sponsorship from Tuborg, Mobiltel, Jack Daniel’s, Jacobs, and DSK Bank, among others. This year things went from bad to worse on the Black Sea Coast site July 27-28 when fewer than 5,000 per day showed for a bill that had Editors, Wu Tang Clan, Selah Sue, Enter Shikari,and Chase & Status.