The Festival of Northern Lights is now independent of the city of Owen Sound.
It is an incorporated non-profit organization that will operate at arms length.
Owen Sound will still provide some funding for the Festival, but that support will decrease each year under a new five-year agreement.
The deal starts at 75 thousand dollars and go down by five thousand dollars each year.
Interim Chair of the Festival, Doug McKee says independence from the city means more responsibility in terms of finding revenue, but it also opens up doors that were not previously open to the festival.
For instance, McKee says, the city could not apply for a Trillium grant for the festival, but the event can now apply for one on its own.
Other grants are being sought that would allow the festival to increase its marketing presence in the GTA.
McKee notes that more than 40 per cent of the 50,000 or so annual visits to the festival come from outside Grey-Bruce.
He says more efforts will be undertaken to encourage those visitors to stay a while longer and shop and enjoy other aspects of Owen Sound.
McKee thinks the festival could become fully self-sufficient in less than 10 years.
