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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-08-13 Tourism Commission MinutesTOURISM COMMISSION RIVERSIDE, MISSOURI, Monday, August 13, 2012, 6:00 p.m. At 6:00 p.m. on August 13, 2012, the Tourism Commission for the City of Riverside, Missouri, met in the Board of Aldermen Conference Room at City Hall, 2950 NW Vivion Road, Riverside, Missouri. Answering roll call was Jerry Pietsch, Jason Rule and Deana Winter. Meredith Hauck, Director of Community Relations, was also present and served as recorder. Dirk van der Linde and Alderman Aaron Thatcher were absent. Tourism Fund Update Hauck provided the Commission with a copy of the FY12 final budget and the FY13 proposed budget. The Commission discussed whether or not to continue funding grants. Chair Rule proposed just sponsoring these events, instead of actually completing a grant process for a number of reasons. First, sponsors receive a set number of benefits for a financial contribution, and that doesn't happen through the grant process. Second, most events that receive grants rely on them to provide funding for a substantial portion of their event and potentially would not be viable without the grant. Commissioner Pietsch agreed and stated this would encourage events to rethink their sponsorship packages. Hauck informed the Commission that the Board of Aldermen would have to adopt updated funding guidelines for the Commission if they wanted to move forward with this change. All commissioners agreed they would like to have a workshop with the Board of Aldermen in September. Hauck will work to get one scheduled. Highland Games Grant Commissioner Winter motioned to table the Highland Games grant request until the October Tourism Commission meeting. Commissioner Pietsch seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Northland Ethnic Festival Commissioner Winter made a motion to approve funding in the amount of $1,400 for the Northland Ethnic Festival. Chair Rule seconded the motion. All voted in favor. Motion carried. Summer Events Update Hauck updated the Commission regarding the summer event project. She reported that all three projects and the event management fee will come in under the $60,000 budget approved for the event series. An estimated 500 people attended Battle of the Bands, which cost approximately $25,000. Hauck explained that between BLAST and Battle of the Bands, she recommends the Commission consider hosting Battle of the Bands again. Battle of the Bands brought a new crowd to the City and offers the most growth potential. The Commission debated if they should continue funding a summer event series at all. The events are costly to put on and only draw a limited crowd to the community. Hauck suggested focusing on capital projects in the coming years. The Commission would like to further discuss this topic at its September meeting. Other Tourism Projects Commissioner Winter suggested looking into a bike share program for the Update City. Hauck will follow up with Winter regarding this program. Adjournment — 7:30 p.m. Commission was adjourned. Holly Phillips Riverside Riverfest Development Corporation 2950 NW Vivion Road Riverside, MO 64150 Riverside Riverfest Committee: On Monday, February 13, the Tourism Commission approved $44,347.50 for the 2012 Riverside Riverfest. We feel this event is one of our community's defining festivals and are excited to once again be able to help sponsor it. One of the challenges we have imposed on ourselves is to ensure we are getting the greatest "bang for our buck" from tourism dollars. On events we fund, we break them down into their respective components to ensure that each component is contributing the maximum benefit to the overall event. We are very critical even of our own sponsored events such as Blast. For example, we have changed major elements of Blast in an attempt to make it as successful as possible. This year we have chosen to move in a completely different direction and sponsor three smaller events during the summer. I bring this up because I want to make it clear that our intentions are to be good stewards of tourism dollars and we attempt to make honest assessments of each event and its components. Riverfest is one of our major annual sponsorships. Each year when we review the grant for Riverfest we struggle with the amount of funding we provide versus the draw in attendance for this two -day event. Riverfest is the highest "$ per attendee" event we fund. Some components of this event are very successful and provide a tremendous draw and garner goodwill and positive word of mouth from attendees. Some examples include the inflatables, headliner entertainment, and Saturday night fireworks. Other elements of the two -day event do not appear to provide a good return on dollars spent. Some examples include Friday night activities and fireworks (compared to Saturday), parade and other Saturday morning /afternoon events with low attendance. We would like to see Riverfest expand on its top 2 or 3 draws and become an event that sets itself apart from all other events in the northland. We believe a greater focus on doing a few things exceptionally well vs. doing many things in an average manner would be a greater draw and provide an even greater opportunity to present our city in a positive light. As we discussed with Riverfest committee members last year, we are interested in seeing this event become a greater tourism draw to Riverside. Although we have discussed a number of suggestions on how Riverfest could do this, we know that the decision on how the event moves forward is ultimately up to the Committee. However, as Riverfest's largest sponsor, we will take a closer look at how well the event aligns with our goals during the 2013 grant process and strongly encourage the Riverfest Committee to consider how the event can be a better tourism draw in the coming years. We propose the Riverfest Committee takes an honest assessment of the overall event and seek ways to improve attendance vs. dollars spent. The Tourism Commission remains a strong supporter of Riverfest and we would welcome the opportunity to meet with the Committee to provide additional feedback on the event. Respectfully, Jason Rule, Chair On behalf of the Riverside Tourism Commission