You may have all heard the sad news that the Board of
Directors has announced it will no longer host or promote
the Fireball Festival. After an eight year run, the Board has made
a business decision that the financial return does not support a
justifiable reason to continue with the Fireball Festival.

In the past eight years there have been literally over a thousand volunteers that have helped to create, promote, produce and manage the Festival

There is no one single person or single reason that has led to this business decision. It is common knowledge that attendance and support of the Fireball Festival has been on the decline in the past several years. At the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in the cost of producing the event, not to mention the increased liability that comes with hosting a Festival the size and scope of Fireball.

Between 1998 and 2004, the Hearts Foundation has been able to raise and distribute in excess of $1 million to various agencies throughout the Chicago land area that help those who have been infected with HIV/AIDS. They have been able to fund programming that highlighted the problem of homelessness among our GLBT adolescents. They have supported seminars that helped to introduce and educate the community about new medicines and treatments for HIV/AIDS. Although They are proud of our many accomplishments and contributions to our community, Fireball 2005 did not produce a financial return that would have enabled them to continue their mission of funding local agencies that perform the much needed direct work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. For this they are truly saddened. The agencies that have been chosen as beneficiaries deserve better than what they were able to accomplish in 2005.

Since the demise of Fireball, the Hearts Foundation has been very active in the anti-meth campaign in BOI Magazine and other local publications as well.

The Hearts foundation has future plans for fund risers, other than circuit events to help the HIV/AIDS community. They are looking into working with the Gay Games to produce an event. Hearts are also looking into Dining out For Life, individual event sponsors, and group events all to serve the community in the manner that the Hearts Foundation has done in the past.