New London — A shrinking pool of state tourism dollars has organizers of the three-day Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival planning for a scaled back event this year.

They have yet, however, to completely rule out the appearance of some of the crowd-pleasing tall ships.

The event is run by the nonprofit Opsail Connecticut Inc., whose chairman, John Johnson, said the group obtained about $60,000 through the state Department of Economic and Community Development for last year’s event.

“That was fabulous, and over the years we’ve had help from the state and always raised the balance,” Johnson said. “But we have to be realistic. This is not an appropriate time to be asking for money of that magnitude.”

Instead, Johnson said the group is brainstorming ways to treat the public to a three-day event with a “different flavor” — and at a reduced cost.

“We’re not going to just abandon it. It just won’t be the same format we’ve done in the past,” Johnson said.

Some of the ideas in the works include military band concerts, continuation of a popular chowder festival and, with any luck, more than one Navy or Coast Guard vessel.

Johnson said the event costs about $100,000 to put on and appearance fees for tall ships and schooners can cost between $5,000 and $10,000.

One of the biggest draws to last year’s event was an appearance off Fort Trumbull by the 500-foot U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage. There was also a parade of sails, the graduation of a U.S. Navy Submarine School class and a moving 9/11 anniversary commemorative ceremony at City Pier.

The event is an outgrowth of OpSail 2000, which evolved into the Boats, Books & Brushes maritime events and in 2013 became the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival. In 2014 Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declared the second week in September, during which the festival takes place, as Connecticut Maritime Heritage Week.

But the state has faced a growing financial crisis since the first event and tourism finances were slashed severely last year, including the defunding of all three of the state’s regional tourism districts.

State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, said there is an awareness in the legislature that “tourism is a multiplier for state revenue and not a drain,” and the push is on to restore some of those funds through other revenue sources.

Malloy has included about $8.3 million for tourism promotion in his recent budget proposal. Funding for statewide tourism promotion previously had been cut down from $15 million five years ago to $6.4 million last year.

The structure for how the tourism money in Malloy’s proposal will be managed remains unclear and is likely to come in the form of competitive block grants instead of specific line items.

Bills introduced by Formica and State Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, would set aside a portion of the revenue from the state’s hotel occupancy tax to fund tourism marketing and the regional districts.

Ed Dombroskas, executive director of the defunded Eastern Regional Tourism District, said under a competitive grant process, organizations such as OpSail Connecticut, who plan their events months in advance, would have an even tougher time planning an event with no guarantee of state funding.

“The question the legislators have had is if there is one pool (of money), what’s the process? Who do they compete with? What’s the criteria? That does not yet exist,” Dombroskas said. “Effectively, what they’re saying is you won’t be able to apply until mid-summer. And year-to-year they won’t be able to plan ahead.”

Johnson agreed and said the run-up to an event needs promotion and the lack of money to promote will help determine if the event is successful or not.

“The problem with a block grants is so many deserving people line up for it that it gets divided into small pieces. We need more than a small piece so it’s hard to be a candidate,” Johnson said.

Dombroskas said his tourism district is clinging to life and running in a “state of suspended animation,” on funds saved through reduced expenses. It is operating out of free office space donated by former state Rep. John Scott in Groton.

“While tourism has seen strong growth over the past few years, right now it’s just about holding steady or declining,” Dombroskas said. “The likelihood of an increase for this coming summer is a bit cloudy.”

g.smith@theday.com