By Tribune staff

High fuel prices and school budget constraints have taken their toll on the Albert Lea Festival of Bands.

Festival organizers announced on Monday that the event, traditionally held on Father&8217;s Day, will not take place this year.

&8220;This year only nine bands had registered for the festival, and such a small number takes away from the main reason for having the festival,&8221; Dick Hench, festival chairman, said in a press release. &8220;What was a marching competition has turned into a marching exhibition.&8221;

Just as the economy has affected the number of bands, it has also affected the number and amount of contributions. &8220;A specific amount of dollars are needed to successfully put on this parade and as the contributions were behind where we needed them to be, it was a factor in the decision,&8221; Hench said.

He added that those who have made contributions to the 2008 festival will receive a refund.

Hench also said the number of volunteers needed to put on the parade has declined over the years and it is unfair to those who are involved to keep asking them to carrying a larger and larger share of the workload.

&8220;It has been our pleasure to have served the bands, their young people and the people of Minnesota and the surrounding area for the past eight years,&8221; Hench said. &8220;I feel that this is a major loss to the summer marching band program in Minnesota. I also feel that the music programs in our school are suffering badly from the budget restraints being placed on our schools.

&8220;Music, in my humble opinion, provides one of the greatest positives in the development of young people in school. It is sad that it is one of the first programs to be cut, the first to be excluded when budget is a factor,&8221; he added.

The committee expressed its gratitute to all the local businesses and service organizations that have helped the festival over the past years, as well as the spectators who came to the festival year after year.

&8220;We hope we are missed!&8221; the release stated.

Earlier this year, the Doc Evans Jazz Festival announced it would return after a one-year hiatus.