Reston Festival's Future in Jeopardy

and two of the major sponsors of the annual Reston Festival, say they will not participate in 2012, making the future of the annual event - at least for this year - in jeopardy. The 2012 Reston Festival is scheduled for July 14 and 15.

RA CEO Milton Matthews said he spoke with festival organizers last fall about the fundraising goal for the 2012 festival. When it became apparent that there was a deficit in vendors, sponsors and  fundraising, he said he would decide about RA's participation in 2012.

"As we got closer to the end of the year, we decided to step back for 2012," Matthews said.

RCC executive director Leila Gordon said her group is also not participating this year, and it will also "re-evaluate the whole community calendar of Reston."

The Reston Festival, in its 48th year, is as old as Reston itself. For many years, the event was held at Lake Anne Plaza. It moved to Reston Town Center in 2003.

As Reston has grown, so have the number of summer events. Among them:the Taste of Reston, Oktoberfest, Reston Multicultural Festival and the nearby Herndon Festival

"I am sure that we will continue to be responsive to the community regarding the range and types of events desired as well as where they are and that align best with resources available to us and our partners," said Gordon.  "We work closely with Reston Association as well as Reston Town Center in that regard and I am confident we will continue to share our perspectives and response to community desires in the future."

Reston Festival organizers told RA board members at RA's regular board meeting on Thursday that they had intended to have $40,000 at this point in the year, but did not have the money.

No official decision has been made by the festival organizers yet, but festival organizer Jay Monroe says Reston Festival cannot go on without either RA or RCC.

"A majority of the time required to plan and execute the festival has always come from RCC and RA," he said.

Monroe says the committee will make a final decision on this year's festival on Feb. 7.