A festival is not a session only event, it is people attaching to the festival. In these financial hard times, if festivals do not get income they will fold. In my opinion they all need financial assistance, turning up when a festival is on and playing although nice for the landlord, nice for the participants and nice for the locals does not help the festival to keep going.
Organised sessions and weekend sessions are a completely different thing,s they are not paying performers who equally without festivals in some instances will suffer.
Keith