NWA Times: Festivals struggle in tight budget years

BY SUSANNAH PATTON, Northwest Arkansas Times

The city of Fayetteville has long held the philosophy that if you help an event get started, it will grow into a full-grown festival one day and be able to support itself.

Marilyn Heifner, executive director of the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission, said events are typically funded in the beginning with the hopes that they will not have to be funded every year.

“Normally, the philosophy we’ve had is to give them some seed money to start and then they ought to be able to stand on their own,” she said.

Bikes, Blues & BBQ was once a fledging festival, nurtured by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce and the Advertising and Promotion Commission. It has since grown into the city’s most successful event, attracting more than 350,000 people last year and handing out $100,000 to local charities.

However, not every festival grows at the same rate. Some struggle to stand on their own two feet and often fail while others continue to seek support from their benefactors.

But as resources decline and more programs and events fall victim to budget cuts, festivals may not be able to rely on city funding.

Such may be the case for the Fayetteville Arts Festival. Organizers are aggressively seeking funding for the twoweekend event held in the fall.

On Monday, the A&P Commission will consider a resolution passed down from the City Council urging them to contribute $35,000 to the festival.

Heifner said the commission will hear the request, but she’s not sure what the conclusion will be.

“The commission really doesn’t have any unallocated funds right now,” she said.

Heifner said the Fayetteville Town Center is cooperating with the festival as much as possible. The visual arts component of the festival will be held at the Town Center, as well as the art party held the evening before the festival. Heifner said she’s also working with festival organizers on ways to raise money for publicity.

“We’re giving all the help we can,” she said. “We’re hoping that will be at least a start in the right direction.”

The festival received $35,000 from the A & P Commission last year but did not reapply for funding in 2008. Daniel Keeley, board president of Fayetteville Downtown Partners, the organization responsible for putting on the festival, said the board didn’t apply for funding this year due to a lack of paid staff members.

Last September, when its three-year funding agreement with the city ended, the board let go its two paid staff members and became a volunteer-based organization.

Volunteers have been working since February to raise money for the event but admitted to the City Council last month that they could use some extra help.

Providing extra help isn’t something the city is prepared to do. Budget cuts last year forced the city to cancel its annual Red, White and Boom festival held on the Fourth of July.

Last year officials announced the cancellation of the city’s annual air show, Airfest, due to the overall expense of putting on the show.

Autumnfest, which began in the early 1980s, faded out in 2006 when attendance and sponsorships began to decline.

Fayetteville is not alone in its difficulty in funding annual events.

The Springdale Chamber of Commerce announced earlier this year that the annual FeatherFest would be canceled. Attendance and revenue have been declining over the past few years, according to Chamber officials.

So what makes some festivals more successful than others?

Bikes, Blues & BBQ started out as a chamber event. According to Bill Ramsey, the festival was born in 2000 when the chamber president at the time, Steve Ward, had a conversation in the alley between the Chamber building and the Fayetteville Police Department with then Police Chief Richard Watson.

In Ramsey’s first year as president in 2001, the festival was still being supported by the chamber.

“It wasn’t anything like it is today,” he said. The proceeds of the festival were split between the chamber and the Washington County Council on Aging.

The festival brought 4,500 bikes and 14,000 visitors to town that year.

“It kept doubling every year,” Ramsey said.

In 2003, the festival attracted nearly 45,000 bikers and 125,000 people. The number reached 300,000 in 2005 and kept growing.

Toad Suck Daze in Conway is run by a committee of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce. The 26-yearold festival occurs the first weekend in May and is run almost exclusively by volunteers, including the local police and fire departments.

Other successful festivals in the state started out with funding from private groups.

Riverfest, the state’s largest music and arts festival, started in 1978 when the Junior League of Little Rock brought in the American Wind Symphony. The event was called The Summer Arts Festival and was held at Murray Park. The following year, the event was renamed Riverfest and Riverfest Inc., a nonprofit, was formed to operate the festival. In 1983, the event moved to Julius Breckling Riverfront Park. In 2002, it expanded to the North Shore Riverwalk in North Little Rock.

Now, more than 245,000 people attend the Memorial Day-weekend event. Riverfest Inc. has invested more than $700,000 in Riverfront Park and the River Market District, including the Riverfest Amphitheatre and the Riverfest Pavilion at the River Market.

Mayor Dan Coody thinks Fayetteville could have longrunning successful festivals on a similar scale as Riverfest.

“Fayetteville is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the cultural tourism that a well-run festival program would bring,” he said.

Coody’s idea is to hire a full-time, year-round employee that would coordinate volunteers and plan events.

“We spend money every year throwing money at the problem,” he said. “Yet every year it’s a new ball game, another set of problems, because there’s no consistency, we’re spending money without a real solid vision of what it is were trying to accomplish.”

Festivals need to be a longterm vision, Coody said, with the goal of increasing by 15 percent each year.

But should the city take on the roll of putting on festivals?

“Only if we care,” Coody said. “ We’re missing an opportunity. Cultural tourism is more important than ever.”

Not only does it bring tourists and money to town, but it also enhances the cultural opportunities for local citizens as well, he said.

Coody acknowledged that hiring a festival coordinator is probably not realistic.

“I don’t think the majority of the council would see the importance,” he said.

But Coody sees the city competing with such wellknown festivals as the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas.

Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times;     Date:Jul 6, 2008