CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Charleston's annual Labor Day blowout may have run its course, Mayor Danny Jones said.

"We have to think about our finances," Jones told City Council members Monday evening. "For the past 38 years, we have had the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta. This year we took a big hit.

"Next year, we have absolutely run out of sponsors. My suggestion: Maybe it's time to pack it in and do something different on Labor Day weekend."

The Regatta peaked in the 1980s, when big-budget sponsors like local beer distributors paid for groups like the Beach Boys, which attracted crowds of more than 100,000 to Kanawha Boulevard.

But most of the sponsors are gone, Jones said, and this year the one-weekend event lost more than $100,000.

"The banks are no longer local," he said. "Radio stations used to help us bring in sponsors. The beer companies have stepped back. It just presents us with a problem."

Three possible sponsors might put up, at most, $40,000 toward next year's festival, Jones said - only 10 percent of the $400,000 needed to stage the event.

"We have established different events in recent years," he said. "FestivALL and, surprisingly, Doo Wop - the car show - has done very well. We could save tremendous amounts of money by doing something else.

"We could still have the Distance Run; it's self-supporting. We could possibly move some of the other events to the Fourth of July that people want to save."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Charleston's annual Labor Day blowout may have run its course, Mayor Danny Jones said.

"We have to think about our finances," Jones told City Council members Monday evening. "For the past 38 years, we have had the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta. This year we took a big hit.

"Next year, we have absolutely run out of sponsors. My suggestion: Maybe it's time to pack it in and do something different on Labor Day weekend."

The Regatta peaked in the 1980s, when big-budget sponsors like local beer distributors paid for groups like the Beach Boys, which attracted crowds of more than 100,000 to Kanawha Boulevard.

But most of the sponsors are gone, Jones said, and this year the one-weekend event lost more than $100,000.

"The banks are no longer local," he said. "Radio stations used to help us bring in sponsors. The beer companies have stepped back. It just presents us with a problem."

Three possible sponsors might put up, at most, $40,000 toward next year's festival, Jones said - only 10 percent of the $400,000 needed to stage the event.

"We have established different events in recent years," he said. "FestivALL and, surprisingly, Doo Wop - the car show - has done very well. We could save tremendous amounts of money by doing something else.

"We could still have the Distance Run; it's self-supporting. We could possibly move some of the other events to the Fourth of July that people want to save."

Jones challenged council members: "If you disagree, where is this money coming from? Go find the money."

Several council members asked whether Regatta might be saved. Councilman Lewis Payne urged Jones not to act in haste, that sponsors might step up.

"That's why I'm doing this," Jones said.

In other business, council members agreed to table a proposed contract for an  online customer request system after Councilman Harry Deitzler objected. In the earlier Finance Committee meeting, a representative of WebQA showed how the computerized system would work.

The system would allow city residents to enter online requests and complaints, or track those phoned into City Hall. It would also have modules for online bill payments, a calendar, customer surveys and reports for city workers or council members.

"If we discontinue [the $695 monthly payments], we lose the platform," Deitzler said. "That's a deal-breaker for me." He suggested the city use an off-the-shelf system on its own computers.

City Manager David Molgaard said the system is just one of several planned upgrades to the city's outdated Web site. "It's a tool to manage how we're responding to citizen requests." He and Information Systems Director Peter Gallo said they'll report on what the WebQA system will do and what other changes are planned to the city Web site.

Also Monday, council members agreed to offer free parking in most city garages and all meters on four Saturdays - Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 13 and 20.

Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 348-5102.