Conwy will lose the anchor of its summer calendar if a £8,000 shortfall isn’t raised by the town’s businesses.

The future of Conwy Pirate Weekend, which is scheduled to take place on Saturday June 16 and Sunday 17, is in jeopardy if the cost of staging the festival isn’t met by the end of this month.

Chris Williams, organiser of the weekend festival, said: “Currently everything is set up - the ships, the bands, the security - for those dates, but we need to discuss where the event stands in Conwy.

“We have to present various Health and Safety documents at a meeting with the Safety Advisory group at Conwy County Borough Council later this month, so we’ll need to have funding in place for then.”

This year’s event will be the fourth that Mr Williams and wife Claire have organised voluntarily on behalf of Conwy Chamber of trade through their company HTC Events, which receives no funding for the annual event.

Mr Williams said: “It costs £6,000 to hold an absolute bare bones event and to do it it justice it’s closer to £10,000.

“The tragedy in the MEN arena last year has driven security costs for an event this size through the roof.

“The only way we can pay for the festival is through stall fees on the quay. Even at the most generous estimate that’s £2,000 maximum if we keep the stalls as local as possible and allow charities space.

“I don’t think it’s fair for us to spend £8,000 of our own money for a great event on behalf of the businesses in the town when we won’t benefit financially.”

In response to a letter sent to 60 traders in Conwy at the start of the year, the event has only received the support of two of the town’s businesses and a further member of the community. Last year, a crowdfunding campaign for the festival raised just £60.

Mr Williams added: “I think it would be crying shame for Conwy to lose its only big quayside event in the summer when if the whole town put in for the event, the cost would be nothing.”

One of the businesses who’ve pledged support is The Blue Bell on Castle street, which throws a pirate themed party every year with all proceeds being pumped back into the festival.

Heron Webb, the landlady of the Blue Bell, said: “I think it's very easy to sit back comfortably and think these events just happen, and forget that people work hard and often out of pocket to make them happen to bring such a fun weekend to town for the benefit of everyone.

"I understand tis difficult with rates increases this year which have made a few businesses feel as though they can't support financially. But Pirates have to eat, have to drink and have to shop somewhere, which benefits all of the independent Conwy businesses."

The organisers are inviting anyone interested in sponsoring the event to contact them on 01492 330227 or via info@conwypirates.co.uk.