BRUNSWICK – Organizers of one of the largest bluegrass festivals on the East Coast plan to take the year off in 2003.

Pati Crooker said that after holding the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival each Labor Day weekend for 25 years, it was time for her and her staff to “have a breather.”

Crooker founded the festival, which is hugely successful and profitable. She said it definitely will resume in 2004.

The festival has drawn some of the biggest bluegrass stars, including Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs and Del McCoury. The late Bill Monroe, who is acknowledged as the father of the genre, played the festival six times.

“I always thought I’d stop at 25 years,” said Crooker, whose family has run the Thomas Point Beach recreation area since 1956. “But it’s become a huge part of my life, of everyone’s life. So I can’t stop it for long.”

Crooker is the owner of Thomas Point Beach, a beachside park where people pay fees to picnic, swim or camp. The park’s business includes hosting company outings, reunions and weddings.

The decision to skip next year’s bluegrass festival comes at roughly the same time that organizers of the Maine Festival announced that they won’t hold the festival this year. The Maine Festival, a gathering of Maine performers and artists, was held annually at Thomas Point Beach for three days in early August.