Almost six weeks after Tall Ships Tacoma 2008 ended, organizers say they don’t have firm attendance or financial figures from this year’s event.

David Doxtater, the event’s contracted executive director, said the nonprofit organization that runs the festival is still reconciling the figures. Numbers from boarding passes to visit the ships moored in the Thea Foss Waterway and sailing excursions haven’t been determined either, Doxtater said Thursday.

“We should have some more information pretty quickly,” he said. “We’re just doing our normal accounting.”

Doxtater said he didn’t know if early indications point to a profit or deficit for the festival. But he said early estimates put the attendance figure at about 300,000 people. That number is 100,000 lower than the original estimate, but Doxtater said this figure doesn’t include the crowds on Ruston Way for the Parade of Sail.

But even the attendance figures should solidify once organizers can compare it to financial data, Doxtater said.

“We’ve got to wait for our financials,” he said. “It’s all about waiting for that now.”

The organization isn’t the only entity crunching the numbers; Pierce County is doing an economic-impact study of the festival, co-chairman Stan Selden said.

Selden said he’s wary of releasing numbers before they’re official. Planners originally guessed an attendance of 1 million people after the inaugural festival in 2005. That was quickly determined to be a hefty miscalculation.

“We’re not going to put out numbers we’re not sure of,” he said.

Selden said the organization has yet to get final numbers from organizers of Victoria (B.C.) Tall Ships festival, which took place a week before Tacoma’s. The two festivals are collaborating on a couple of costs, he said.

He’s asking for patience with the figures.

“It just takes some time,” he said. “It’s not as simple as you might think.”

Scott Fontaine: 253-320-4758

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