A report for council by the Summer in the Park committee made some bold moves, first declaring its deficit, then announcing two new co-chairs for the committee, and finally—in a bolder statement—announcing that next year the summer celebration would be changing locations, leaving the downtown area.
“The committee has decided we’re going to move the event to Memorial Gardens and Thomson Park,” Coun. Derek Shogren said last night. “We’re doing it for many reasons.”
See: Summer in the Park may change location next year
Shogren, who is also part of the organizational committee, outlined some of these reason to council.
Saving over $100,000 in costs from not having to rent an outdoor stage, providing performers with trailers, gating, policing, and many smaller costs that added up over the course of the long weekend—not to mention the savings in cancellation insurance by moving to a location, not at the mercy of heavy rain—were all considerations for the decision, he said.
In light of the report on the $58,338 deficit from this past summer event, the potential cost savings were a welcome sound to the ears at the council table. Shogren also announced the two new co-chairs for the next year, Geoff Richardson, and Thomas Brown.
See: Summer in the Park loses over $58,000
“The bold move of looking at a new venue is to be applauded,” Coun. Mike Anthony agreed at the table. “And with the cost savings and without the worry of the weather, I see a lot of my main concerns being alleviated.”
Others at the council table were also pleased to hear of the decision to make the move—pleased to see the potential cost savings and use of Memorial Gardens as a concert space. Coun. Mark King noted that the community has seen the annual event struggle over the years with deficits, but agreed this new direction made sense.
“The narrative is always that the festival always loses money,” Shogren said. “But I don’t know how that can be said over an event that has $3 million in economic activity as well as 45,000 people attending.”
Shogren noted that each year, a massive portion of ticket sales are dependent on the weather watch for the weekend, with many sales being the day of particular concerts as hopeful attendants wait to secure acceptable conditions for their entertainment.
However, while moving the concerts indoors would protect them from weather; it would also drastically drop the number of seats from 10,000 to 4,800.
