By Cliff Peale
Enquirer staff writer

The Tall Stacks Music, Arts & Heritage Festival will not put on a music-only festival this fall.

After attracting more than 800,000 visitors for the riverboat and music event in October, organizers had been studying a concert schedule that would bridge the gap between full Tall Stacks festivals, which have occurred in 1988, '92, '95, '99 and 2003.

But they've decided not to proceed and instead are targeting a fall 2006 festival with both riverboats and concerts, said Peter Gomsak Jr., chairman of the Tall Stacks Commission.

"Given the success of the last event, we certainly want to do it again," Gomsak said. But first, organizers want to raise enough money to secure the event's financial base.

Tall Stacks ended the last event owing the city of Cincinnati more than $300,000 for police and firefighter overtime pay. It has negotiated a two-year payment plan and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in private donations to cover other bills.

That means the commission already is exploring how to raise money for another Tall Stacks. And it won't have $600,000 from the Ohio Bicentennial Commission it had last year, Gomsak said.

With the concerts, almost half of visitors to Tall Stacks 2003 were new to the event, he said. It was produced by Music & Event Management Inc., a unit of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com