Ottawa Makes Money On New Festivals

Spring festivals featuring mushrooms and wine made money for the city of Ottawa.

The inaugural Midwest Morel Fest in May made the city three thousand dollars thanks to 301 mushroom hunters paying
30 dollars apiece to hunt.  The first ever wine and jazz festival in early June made the city a smaller profit of 800
dollars.  An estimated three thousand people came to the two day wine and jazz festival.

Mayor Bob Eschbach says every comment he heard about the festivals was positive and thinks they can both grow in the future.  He says losing large sums of money with the first year festivals was a concern.