I too, know how hard it is to organise a festival on a self - funding basis Nutty. You must remember though that there is no magic solution to selling tickets. Although the Pickering organizers may well be able to open a cheque book and 'buy' the festival, looking at their line-up, they will be spending an absolute fortune. They will still have to sell a hell of a lot of tickets. It's nice to know (and reassuring) though that they're are lovers of folk music. Envy is a terrible thing. I wish that ALL festival organizers were afforded the privelage of just opening their chequebook, but let's not begrudge those that are able. As I said, they're still taking a huge risk.