It’s been hard to miss for more than 15 years, taking over downtown Toronto streets with fire-breathers, contortionists and breakdancers.

But the future of Buskerfest, and the money it produces for Epilepsy Toronto, may be in jeopardy now that its biggest sponsor Scotiabank has pulled out.

Geoff Bobb, executive director of Epilepsy Toronto, praised the bank for its past support and said it provided his organization with lots of notice of its decision and an external agency to help them find a new sponsor. But so far the non-profit has not had any luck funding a replacement.

“We’re very concerned. We’d hate to lose this event,” said Bobb, adding it has become the biggest busker festival in North America and one of the biggest in the world.

Scotiabank announced it was withdrawing partnership from Buskerfest as well as Nuit Blanche, the CHIN Picnic and Toronto Caribbean Carnival (formerly known as Caribana), this month.

Bobb said although he is “knocking on as many doors” as he can to find a new sponsor or “cobble together” support from a few, it’s a small window because at some point the organization needs to start booking performers for next year.

He estimates the festival, run annually over the last weekend in August on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, costs about $650,000 just to break even. However, it provides $250,000 for Epilepsy Toronto, which he calls “a big chunk” of the organization’s revenue. Admission is by donation.

“If we lose the festival it will impact the services that we provide to the kids with epilepsy and their families,” said Bobb.

“We’re not prepared to walk away from it easily.”

Clinton Braganza, senior vice-president of Canadian marketing at Scotiabank, said the decision not to renew existing sponsorship agreements with all four events, which were up this year, came out of a yearly strategic review.

“What drove that is our desire to be much more focused in what we’re doing,” he said. Those areas of focus are hockey, arts, and community marathons.

Braganza declined to say exactly how much money Scotiabank contributed to each event but said each one was provided with 18 months notice.

Asked if any other events would lose sponsorship in the near future, Braganza said the answer is no. For now.

“As with any business we’ll continue to evaluate our investments across our sponsorship portfolio,” he said.

City Nuit Blanche organizers said they are already planning next year’s event and are confident that the outside art show will survive.

CHIN Picnic organizer Lenny Lombardi said the event “will continue to thrive” and he plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary next summer.

“Certainly it’s a hole we need to fill because the picnic is a free event,” he said, adding he’s “very optimistic” that organizers can replace Scotiabank’s sponsorship and are looking within the banking industry.

“Our only source of revenue is through sponsorships so that’s something that we need to address.”

Stephen Weir, a spokesperson for Toronto Caribbean Carnival, said organizers weren’t surprised by the decision. “We’re really confident but at the same time, sure, we are worried as well,” he said.

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Weir said the carnival has other revenue sources, from government and private donors, and organizers are not looking at cancelling or scaling back.

Still, they are actively looking for a new “cornerstone sponsor” and exploring a model of having a few smaller ones instead of one big one.

“It’s to be determined but it’s not as if we’re going to take anybody,” he said, adding the new sponsor would have to understand the festival’s carnival spirit and its roots in the emancipation of slaves in the Caribbean.