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 Also, new to the board in February was Gail Sasse. Sasse, along
with her husband David, is the owner of Gail’s Pumpkin Patch near
Beason. Sasse served on the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan
County for several years but stepped down from the board in 2014.
With the exception of Ron Keller, most of the members of the council
are new to their positions. Adding Sasse back into the mix, even on
her first night in attendance, proved to be of value to the balance
of the board. Sasse has historical knowledge of the work of the old
bureau that came into the conversations a couple of times Monday
when the council was reviewing requests for sub-grants for events
coming up this summer.
The council officers this year are Pollice as chair, Renee Martin of
Mount Pulaski as the vice-chair, and Paresh Patel of Lincoln as the
treasurer. Other members of the council include Steve Parrott
representing the city of Lincoln, Shawn Taylor of Logan Lanes in
Lincoln, Ron Keller of Lincoln College, and Sasse.
Five of the seven members were present for the meeting, with Paresh
Patel and Shawn Taylor being absent for the evening.
Guests present Monday evening were Cara Barr, representing the Logan
County Alliance and Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce, and
David Irwin, representing the Logan County Fair.
The meeting began with discussions about requests for sub-grant
funding for the fair and also for the Lincoln Balloon Festival, and
the Art in the Park.
Logan County Fair requests $2,500
David Irwin spoke first saying that he was requesting cash for
advertising and promotion of the 2016 Logan County Fair. He noted
that while he primarily works with the annual concert, the money
received will go toward the entire fair.
Irwin talked about the entertainment that will be at the fair this
year, saying that right now, no one has been signed. He explained
that who comes to Lincoln depended a great deal on the tour
schedules of the artists. He said he is working with a promoter, and
they hope to have that information sooner rather than later. He also
noted that for the last two years, the opener for the featured
artist had been Brushville. He said this year; they are hoping to
bring someone new. He said right now; he is looking at another up
and coming artist out of Nashville, who currently has a song on the
top 40 charts. He said nothing has been confirmed, but it is looking
good.
Irwin said that in filling out his application, he was tested by the
question that asked him to estimate overnight stays. He said last
year he had worked with Jachino on coming up with a number, but he
said he if the figure were questioned, he would be hard put to prove
the number.
This is an issue that the tourism bureau is working to resolve. It
was noted that discussions had taken place about asking hotel guests
to share why they were in Lincoln for an overnight stay. Jachino,
who works for Hampton Inn, noted that front desk staff are trained
to have conversations with guests checking in that include the
question of why the guest is spending the night in Lincoln. She said
she knows that Patel, who owns two motels in Lincoln, also
encourages his staff to do the same.
Irwin was asked about the profitability of the Friday night
concerts. Irwin said the concerts were very expensive to put on, and
estimated annually the fair invests about $75,000 in bringing in the
concert entertainment. He said there was more to it than just hiring
the entertainers. The fair also has to deal with insurance, lighting
and sound, and much more.
The annual goal is to sell 2,000 tickets for the concert at $25
each. If they have a sellout, then the dollars taken in would be
$50,000. The fair relies on sponsorships to cover the balance and
most of the time that does happen. Irwin said every year is a
gamble, and noted that last year, on the day of the concert, there
were still 630 tickets available, and he was concerned that it was
not going to be a good year for the concert. However, by the end of
the day, those tickets had sold.
 Keller asked if the fair sold advance tickets for the concert at
discounted rates. Irwin said in the past they have not, but this
year they do plan to. He said the details are not completed, but the
idea is that discounts will be given for tickets purchased before
July 1st.
Irwin was asked if the fair benefited from merchandise sales during
the concerts. He said the promoters make the merchandise sales, but
the fair does get a small share of the receipts. He said last year
the fair received a total of $500 from merchandise sales.
Keller also asked about the fair books this year. Irwin said last
year the fair board received some complaints about the print quality
of the books particularly from the advertisers whose ads were not
readable. He said there were changes in the works for the fair
books, with the hopes of producing a much better product this year.
Later in the evening, after Irwin had left the meeting, the council
discussed the request for $2,500 for the Logan County Fair.
Part of the funding agreement at the fair includes providing space
for the Tourism Bureau for a booth the full week of the fair, free
of charge. McMurtrey said she’d like to see the bureau put in a
better location. She noted that on entertainment nights such as the
concert, fairgoers don’t come into the barn where business and
organization displays are set up. She said she would like to ask the
Fair Board to give the Bureau a location outside, near the food
vendors.
The group agreed that McMurtrey should ask for a better location
this year, though funding for the fair would not be dependent upon
getting that better location.
There was also discussion about whether the Fair’s request was
disproportionate to the number of visitors it brings to Lincoln. It
was noted that the fair is a week-long event that does bring in a
lot of people over the seven days. The fair board was seeking only
$2,500 when the other requests heard on Monday night were for
weekend events requesting much more.
The discussion also moved to the budget for sub-grants this year. To
date, the tourism bureau had received no state grant. McMurtrey said
that a grant is available at long last, and she is preparing the
application. Right now, the Bureau is distributing funds based on a
year with no grant award, so they have to be very careful with the
budget. Therefore, giving more than requested might not be a good
idea at the moment. However, an alternative was suggested.
The council could establish a procedure that if the state grant
comes through, the council could review requests, and if an event
had not yet occurred when the funding comes through, the council
could vote to increase the award based on the dollars received from
the state.
McMurtrey said that would need to be written into a procedure for
the Bureau. She said she could write the document and the council
could review and vote to accept the document at the March meeting.
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When the request was put to a vote, the council decided unanimously
to support the Logan County Fair with a sub-grant of $2,500.
Cara Barr presents request for $4,000 for Art in the Park and $5,000 for
Balloon Fest
Cara Barr, events coordinator for the Logan County Alliance, presented requests
for Art in the Park, and the Lincoln Balloon Festival. The Balloon Festival
request was for $5,000, the same amount as last year. Barr commented briefly on
the Balloon Festival, saying last year was the biggest year ever. There was
little discussion, and at the end of the night, the council voted to approve the
$5,000 request.
Talking about the Art in the Park, Barr said there had definitely been
challenges with the event last year. Much of this was to be expected for a
first-year event, but also the extremely hot weather had played into the lack of
success. She was asked how many visitors the event had brought in. Barr said it
was hard to say for sure because it was a free admission. She noted that at the
Balloon Festival, the number in attendance can be determined through wristband
sales and parking, but that is not the case at the Art in the Park. She also
noted that the plan had been for 5,000 people, but she felt maybe all together
the number may have reached 1,000.
Barr was asked if she had any artists who have said they would return for this
year’s event. She said possibly 5 or 6, but it was still early in the year. She
went on to explain that changes are being made regarding entry fees for the
artists. She said there would be a big reduction in the booth fee, and also
special pricing for art students and art groups. She said there would also be
the addition of “fine crafts.” She noted this would not be a flea market or
garage sale style offering and would not include commercial products.
Barr also commented positively on the decision of the Logan County Board to
allow the wine and beer component of the event to take place in Latham Park
instead of on the street. The event will also include food trucks again this
year along with live music.
Barr also said that last year was a challenging year on the whole with changes
in the events and also changes in staff. She is just now celebrating her
one-year anniversary with the Alliance. She said there are things, that now
looking back one year later, she would have done differently, and things that,
with the first year behind her she now knows better how to handle.
This year, she said she plans to beef up the advertising, and hopes to attract
more visitors through more focused advertising. Parrott asked if she was
planning to do more, why she had not asked for more money. Barr said she didn’t
want to push too far, so she had decided to request the same amounts as last
year for both the Art in the Park and the Balloon Festival.
Keller noted that holding an event for the first time is always going to be
difficult. He said that he hoped the community would support the effort again
this year, and make it better for everyone.
Later in the evening, the council discussed and voted on the request.
One big question was “Do we think that Lincoln is an ‘art’ town.” Were people
going to come to Lincoln for art? The speculation was that currently, maybe this
is not an art community, but perhaps the goal is to make it one.
Parrott said he still didn’t quite understand how Barr intends to do more to
promote the event, but without more money. McMurtrey explained that Barr intends
to focus more on a target market for this event. She said that last year, this
was put on Barr soon after starting with the Alliance. Her principal help had
been McMurtry who also was just being hired and Tina Simpson who was also new.
With a year behind them, there is now a better vision of how to target market
this event.
The council also talked about the art classes offered last year. Renee Martin
said those classes are growing in popularity, and she’s hopeful it will be more
successful this year than last. McMurtrey also offered information about that
component. She said that last year there had been three classes with three
different paintings. One painting sold out, but the other two were failures. She
said the planning committee would be revisiting what the art classes should
offer.
This component will also be offered in the park this year. The council noted
that as a great improvement, that should make the entire weekend more attractive
to visitors.
In general, the council agreed that the Art in the Park event could be
successful, but it isn’t yet. They said that as a tourism bureau, they needed to
support and encourage the festival, and invest in making it successful. Even so,
when it came time to make the motion and second for the vote, there was a good
deal of hesitancy. Keller made the motion, then there was a lengthy wait before
anyone gave the second. The second finally came from Renee Martin.
Pollice noted the hesitancy and Sasse commented that her big concern was the
number of dollars being invested compared to the low number of people it had
brought in last year. She said her feeling was to go ahead and support the
festival “this year,” implying this could be the last year. With a nod of the
head, many in the room agreed. When the item came to vote, the council did
approve the request with a 5-0 vote.
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In another discussion, Keller asked if the Up in Smoke would be seeking funding
this year. McMurtrey recalled to the board that last year the Young
Professionals Network had sought money for the Pigs and Swigs; and that Up in
Smoke had also requested money. The amount requested by the two entities would
have broken the bank for the Bureau, so it was decided that the Bureau would
handle the promotion of the event as a whole unit. McMurtrey said this year; it
is expected that once again, promotion will be combined for both components, and
the request for funding should be coming from Barr.
Before going into executive session, the council reviewed the March calendar and
decided to set the next meeting for March 28th at 4:45 p.m. at the Best Western.
[Nila Smith]
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