Good point - and you're not the first to have said this, by any means.

I think the feeling generally is that

1) It would be impossible to persuade everyone to unite in such a view
2) An active boycott of Sidmouth would be seen by many as a destructive/retaliatory act & so not good for PR
3) Given that people will turn up anyway - it's much better to do our best to put some structure into the event. If we don't we risk driving a deeper wedge between Town & Festival

Just my view...

John