A Common Ground concert ticket: about $30. A treat from the concession stand: about $5.

But it's sponsors who foot the bill to make festivals happen.

"While many of our sponsors have been with us for awhile, many have said maybe we can do less this year," Eric Hart said.

Hart, president of Center Park Productions and co-producer of Common Ground, said it's been really tough to get those same sponsors to sign the checks this year.

"Our sponsorship manager has probably worked the hardest she's worked in years," Hart said. "It's definitely more challenging out there."

He said those few very large donors are a thing of the past. Now it's about getting multiple smaller sponsors.

"We've had to change our motto to rely on small sponsors, not bigger ones," he said.

Money may be tight in Lansing, but the city says they will still offer free events all summer -- just like the free concert series in the park.

"We've always offered those programs to families," Murdock Jemerson said.

Jemerson is the director of the Lansing Parks and Recreation Department. He said the city has only lost one sponsor this year for the summer concert series, and gained one big one for the fourth of July fireworks display we've all come to count on.

"This year we have a program that will cost $20,000 and Nu Union Credit Union has stepped in to help defray the cost," Jemerson said.

Jemerson said this may be the most important year to keep up with the freebies because 'money is tight.'

Hart said while it was a challenge to pay for it, he knows people enjoy the Common Ground Festival, so the show must go on.