Sponsors paid the direct costs of Delta Township’s events this year. Officials want $38,000 for 2027.

DELTA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Delta Township’s community events paid their own direct costs this year with private money instead of tax dollars. Twenty-one sponsors put up $50,000, twice what the township had hoped to raise, and officials now want to repeat the trick with a $38,000 target for 2027.

The figures came from a staff presentation at the Township Board’s Sept. 21 committee of the whole meeting, Delta Unfiltered reported. The township had set a $25,000 goal for 2026 after the board pushed staff to do more with less, the outlet reported.

“We kind of blew our goal out of the water,” Communications Administrator Mary Worland told the board, according to Delta Unfiltered.

The sponsorship money covers what the township calls hard costs, its direct, nonstaff expenses. It does not cover staff time or the police, fire and medical crews that larger events can require. Small events cost $500 to $1,500 in direct expenses, and medium-size ones $1,800 to $6,000, according to the presentation. The township says its events draw more than 30,000 people a year, with about four employees working an average event.

The money matters because the township’s budget is tightening. Its proposed general fund of about $22.3 million faces a projected $500,000 drop in tax revenue that Lansing shares from the General Motors Lansing Delta Township plant, Delta Unfiltered reported in a separate story.

For 2027, staff is proposing to keep most events free, including Arts in the Park, Kids Day, Music in the Park, Juneteenth Unity Fest, National Night Out and Touch a Truck. Trick or Treating in the Mall would become free. The parent-child dances would still charge admission.

The largest addition: an evening at Sharp Park the week before the Fourth of July, with family activities from 5 p.m. and a concert to close the night at 9. Uncle Sam Jam Family Fest is the working name. Staff said holding it ahead of the holiday could cut personnel costs by avoiding holiday overtime, and that it would be built by combining pieces of existing summer events rather than adding a new one on top. The township also plans to revive a Harvest Handmade Market at its new senior center after about 23 years and is developing a Trails Day.

Nothing is final. Board members have not voted on the lineup, which remains part of 2027 budget talks. Businesses interested in sponsoring have until Dec. 4 to apply, according to the township’s website. The 2027 program adds a sixth sponsorship level, a single-event title sponsorship and options for small businesses, which the township defines as independently owned companies with fewer than 50 employees and less than $5 million in annual revenue.

Sources:
Delta Unfiltered, “The Price Of Free Fun In Delta Township,” Oct. 6, 2026, https://deltaunfiltered.substack.com/p/the-price-of-free-fun-in-delta-township
Delta Township, 2027 “Delta Rocks! All Year Long” sponsorship opportunities, https://www.deltami.gov/residents/events/sponsorship_opportunities.php
Delta Unfiltered, “Flushing A Toilet Could Cost More Next Year in Delta,” 2026, https://deltaunfiltered.substack.com/p/flushing-a-toilet-could-cost-more
Photo: kennethaw88, “Delta Township sign,” November 9, 2014, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/), cropped and color-corrected, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Delta_Township_sign.jpg

Delta Township

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