The Festival of Bands received tangible support from the Albert Lea City Council Monday night when the council agreed to provide festival organizers with $1,000.

The amount that festival organizers asked for was the same as the city has provided the first two years of the event, said festival organizers. Along with other funds raised from businesses and organizations in the community, the money will be used to help with expenses related to the festival, including a travel expense subsidy paid to bands that participate.

So far 16 bands have registered for this year’s festival, which is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, June 16. The festival will accept up to 20 bands, the number that performed last year, but the number of applications is down this year, said organizers. They believe that budget problems experienced by school districts statewide has cut into funds available for travel.

In addition to the cash donation, the city also assists the festival by putting up the road barriers and providing police officers for traffic and crowd control. Last year the law enforcement explorers unit also helped with these tasks.

The whole community benefits from the festival, both in terms of exposure and financially, said Allen Pelvit of the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce. Between 12,000 and 15,000 visitors will come to Albert Lea from outside the community in order to attend the festival, he said. Many of them spend money in area gas stations, stores, and restaurants.

Informal surveys of area businesses show that was what happened during the last two years of the festival, said Pelvit and Jan Hench, a member of the group that organizes the event.