Joy, while you're at it you might mention the Friends of the Festival,
(yourself included) who came through with financial support over the past decade without which the Festival likely would not have survived,
given the Seaport's new (now not-so-new) financial model.

They've represented a huge share of the budget in past years, much
more than I originally envisioned.

Now we're starting to see (finally) an up-turn in the corporate
sponsorship after some pretty 'thin' years following the economic
down-turns and post-dot-com and Gulf War declines.

It was good to see the casino get in there and sponsor a local
event of substance. When they were in the planning stages, some
of the more vocal opponents were associated with the Seaport,
and I'm sure it can't have left a very good taste in management's
mouths. I've always believed that the two pursuits were in fact
complementary, not competitive with one another.

Being a pirate is all fun and games, till somebody sends you
the bill :-)