LEAF won’t return in spring, possibly ever
An arch made from wood collected around the Llano River welcomed visitors to the Llano Earth Art Festival in 2022. The popular event is no more, according to organizers, who announced its end on Nov. 27, 2024. Staff photos by Dakota Morrissiey
The Llano Earth Art Festival is not coming back in 2025, or maybe ever again. The festival’s founder announced its end on Nov. 27 due to several obstacles, including a lack of funding, volunteers, and community support.
First held in 2015 on the banks of the Llano River in Grenwelge Park, LEAF featured a rock-stacking competition that attracted stone balancers from around the world. During its peak years, the popular event drew thousands of visitors who came for the earth art and activities, live music, camping, and unique workshops.
LEAF founder Binky Morgan said the festival created an international community.
“It’s been one of the best experiences of my life to see people from all walks of life and all different beliefs come together in Llano, Texas, on the banks of the Llano River and, in nature, create art,” she told DailyTrib.com. “It was just always a beautiful thing, and I hope that continues somehow, somewhere, even if it’s just one person going down to the river on their own.”
Morgan said the festival’s founders had reached financial and personal breaking points, and the number of volunteers had dwindled despite the event’s popularity.
“The main (LEAF committee) took off work for a month or six weeks to put this on, and it was a big sacrifice to our personal income and our families,” she said. “Volunteerism was a huge part of it, too. The festival was growing every year, but volunteers were not. In fact, it was declining.”
Morgan and the other organizers had already pulled back from operations, canceling the 2024 LEAF to accommodate the gargantuan crowds expected for the total solar eclipse that passed over Central Texas in April.
A new crop of volunteers and organizers took on the project with hopes of bringing it back in 2025, but those plans didn’t come together.
“We talked with a new group of folks who were excited to take the helm and continue on,” Morgan wrote in her Nov. 27 Facebook post announcing the end of LEAF. “We all had high hopes that things would move forward.”
The post also notes the “nail in the coffin” for the festival was a lack of funding from Llano County.
LEAF organizers applied for a $40,000 hotel occupancy tax grant from the Llano County Commissioners Court for the 2024 cycle but were denied money this year. Hotel occupancy grants are typically awarded to events that draw tourism and put “heads in beds” in local lodging, but the grant process is at the discretion of the Commissioners Court.
LEAF had been awarded funds in past years, and it is common for festivals and events to receive HOT grants. This year, the Llano Crawfish Open was awarded $75,000, the Llano Music Festival $48,000, and the Llano Chuck Wagon Cook-off $15,000.
LEAF survived via ticket and T-shirt sales as well as community support. According to Morgan, the lack of county funding and increasingly prohibitive policies by the city of Llano made it difficult to move forward.
“We did depend on the city and the county HOT funds to do (the festival),” Morgan told DailyTrib.com. “The requirements from the city also became cost prohibitive. Really, what it boils down to—even with obstacles from the community—it really just boils down to money and participation.”
Despite LEAF fading, Morgan has hope for what is to come.
“We had a great run,” she wrote in her farewell address to LEAF fans. “We created a global community with other similar festivals being spawned. We made lifelong friends from all parts of the world. Thank you for loving LEAF and thank you for helping make the dream come true, the dream of a gathering of love and peace and nature and creativity, sprinkled with song and learning. I hope you will all continue to commune with nature and create Earth Art whenever you can.”
too bad, so sad