On Monday, organizers officially called off the the Jackson County Bash for 2009 citing a lack of ticket sales as the deciding factor.

Scott Ranson, president of the Ripley High School Boosters, said only 1,100 tickets had been sold as of Monday for the annual fund-raising gala event. Ranson cited both local and national economic woes with significant negative impact on the sales, locally with the closure of Century Aluminum and layoffs at Alcan and the national economic downturn.

“We had grant money for advertising this year we normally don’t have and even did an email blast targeting those who cater to this kind of promotion,” said Ranson. “We got little to no response.”

Ranson stated the Bash sold 7,000 tickets for the first year , but that number has declined every year since. Last year, ticket sales for the event  lagged to the point that money from the general fund had to be used to pay for prizes.

“We haven’t looked ahead beyond refunding the money to those who bought tickets for this year,” Ranson said of the future of the Jackson County Bash.