Ottawa's flashiest festival will lean on the business community for its 30th anniversary after a financial meltdown by Pride's previous organizers.

It makes sense that the Bank St. BIA would offer to help stage the pride festival this summer. The Centretown stretch is the city's gay village and its shops prosper from the increased traffic during the festival.

Having the BIA's executive director Christine Leadman in charge of the finances is probably the best thing for the festival. A former city councillor, Leadman is well-respected and understands how to navigate the city government.

"From the outset I have always indicated my support for pride and its importance and value to the Bank St. area," Leadman said Thursday at City Hall, where a new community advisory committee for pride was introduced.

Committee spokeswoman Tammy Dopson said the festival is at a "critical juncture" and it will present a proposal to the city later this month.

The last Capital Pride board voted todeclare bankruptcy at the end of 2014 after estimating the organization was $106,000 in the hole. Suppliers claimed they were owed thousands from the last festival and there were budget shortfalls. The organization buckled under the financial pressure.

Even to this day there's confusion about how the festival's finances were so poorly mismanaged. There have been legal threats and police reports, but no real answers.

Dopson said the new committee partnership with the BIA is not part of the last Capital Pride board, nor is anyone on the last board on the current advisory committee for the 2015 festival.

The BIA will manage the festival's finances this year but not be involved in the creative component. A festival producer will be assigned that role.

The advisory committee doesn't know yet what the 2015 festival will look like, only that the central focus will be on Bank St.

Community members didn't want the festival to be discontinued, especially this year.

"We're a world class city. We deserve the biggest celebration for our 30th anniversary of Capital Pride," Dopson said.

Enthusiasm to host the annual pride festival has never been a problem for past organizers, but when it came down to managing the event, there have been several hiccups.

In 2013 the festival waschallenging city council to postpone a permit fee deadline for the parade because its sponsorship money hadn't come through yet. It was all worked out, just in time.

The festival had to rebuild ahead of the 2006 event after a brush with bankruptcy, which included a request to the city for emergency funding.

While it's hard to imagine City Hall won't give any financial support to pride in 2015, staff and politicians might have more questions before writing a cheque.

In 2014 the city's grant to pride was $35,000 and it's normal for follow-up by the city to see if the money was used properly.

The pride festival has been an important business generator for Ottawa. It has traditionally featured the largest parade in the capital and it brought economic activity to downtown businesses, so it's in City Hall's interest to make the event successful.

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney likes the restructuring and she doesn't think sponsors, including the city, will hesitate to support the festival, especially with the BIA as a partner.

"I think it has outgrown a time when it could be run just by volunteers. I think it's time to look at the governance and having paid staff," McKenney said. "That's what we're looking at this year, to have somebody with that expertise to oversee, but still have the community very involved in how pride takes place. I think it's a perfect arrangement."