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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10_08_04 Minutes MINUTES: Commission on Special Events Meeting Vail Town Council Chambers Wednesday, August 4, 2010 @ 9:00 a.m. CSE Members Present: Dave Chapin, Chairman Bobby Bank Jenn Bruno Meggen Kirkham Rayla Kundolf Bob McKown CSE Member Absent: Heather Trub TOV Staff Present: Sybill Navas, CSE Coordinator Kelli McDonald, Economic Development Manager Lorelei Donaldson, Town Clerk Suzanne Silverthorn, Community Information Director Sara Stookey, Community Information Intern Others Present: John Knight, The America Cup Leon Fell, King of the Mountain Volleyball Jamie Gunion, Vail Recreation District (VRD) Laurie Asmussen, Eagle Valley Events Lourdes Ferzacca, Ferzacca Management Richard tenBraak, Vail Chamber and Business Association (VCBA) Todd DeJong, Lone Star Security AGENDA: Chairman Dave Chapin called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Administrative Items: Motion to approve the Minutes of the meeting of July 7, 2010, as presented. M/S/P: McKown, Kundolf, Unanimous Coordinator Report: CSE members reviewed the Financial Report and Contract Status. No issues were raised. Navas recapped the feedback received at the July 20 meeting with Vail Town Council, and stated that overall the council felt the CSE’s policies were on target, and that the CSE should continue to focus on developing events that will attract destination visitors. Kundolf and Bank represented the CSE at the discussion. Update on Vail Restaurant Month: Navas distributed an email from Ilene Rapkin, summarizing the progress to date and inviting everyone to visit the newly launched website, www.VailRestaurantMonth.com. The month has been divided into 4 themed weeks, including Market to Table Week (Sept. 20-26), Health/Wellness/Outdoors Week (Sept 27- Oct 3), LoveFest (Oct 4-10), and Family Week (Oct 11-17); featuring all in all over 70 individual confirmed events. The memo announced the commitment of several new sponsors and media partners. The America Cup, in Vail: John Knight distributed an overview of the international fly fishing tournament he has produced the last 3 years in Summit county and explained that he would like to take the event up a level to “world cup” category and move the event to Eagle County. Citing benefits to Vail as: Established tournament, 3rd year of operation Credibility with the international fly fisherman for hosting a Fips-Mouche event Hosting men’s, women’s, youth and adaptive teams Fair competition with honest results Bring reams and support staff to Vail Valley in the shoulder season Work on bring the World Fly Fishing Championships to Vail, CO Promote as a destination for up to 200+ people for 3-5 days each September Invasive Species Awareness And, “what Vail brings to us” as: Proximity to world class rivers A history of hosting world class events Brand name to drive more teams to The America Cup and make the event bigger and better Larger volunteer base than other areas that are close to the rivers. John invited the CSE members to come and see the event in Frisco, which will be held September 17-19, 2010. CSE members thanked John for his proposal and encouraged him to submit a proposal in response to the 2011 RFP for Special Event Funding in Vail. Participatory Sports Funding Group: Review final budget status report and confirm $5,000 allocation to Eagle Valley Events to augment the 1st Night festivities. Motion to approve the allocation as presented, granting the $5000 returning to the CSE per the PSFG agreement, to Eagle Valley Events to support the 2nd annual 1st Night celebration. M/S/P: McKown, Bruno, Unanimous The CSE also agreed that it would be appropriate for the PSFG to allocate the funds remaining in their budget to augment the budget of the Vail Firefighter Combat Challenge. Event Recaps: VCBA Events: Lourdes Ferzacca and Rich tenBraak distributed recaps of the two events produced by the Vail Chamber and Business Association (VCBA) the South of the Border Fiesta and the BBQ Bonanza. TenBraak stated that give the personnel changes at the VCBA, they had partnered with Ferzacca Management to produce these two events. Beginning with the South of the Border Fiesta, Ferzacca described the addition of the fashion show, produced with the help of Arriesgado, the Mexican Folk Dancers and the Mariachi Band as some of the highlights, along with the increased interest in participation of more retailers in the second year of this event. The salsa competition was also a big hit. She cited the challenges as: Many vendors did not want to go to LionsHead The timing, with the early June date, made it difficult to get businesses to commit to participate. She stated that they might consider a date later in June next year, when they would have more staff available and the weather might be more reliable. Bruno asked why they had lost money on the sale of liquor. TenBraak stated it was due to the cool and rainy weather. Navas added that providing some seating for attendees would keep people in the area longer. Ferzacca then moved on to describe the BBQ Bonanza, now in its 4th year, as a “great success,” and added that all of the activities going on in town at the same time, including the Arts Festival in LionsHead and the YoYo Ma Children’s concert in Ford Park the Farmers Market and the Lacrosse Tournament, created a “fantastic” synergy that all of the events benefited from. Kundolf asked why the event had not developed a sanctioned BBQ competition. Ferzacca replied that would be a very expensive proposition, and that we do not have an “in-town” venue that could accommodate the scale required. Navas suggested that the event could benefit from giving more publicity to the winners. Bank thanked Ferzacca for her patience with the difficulties that arise with some of the businesses when events are produced on Gore Creek Drive. Lorelei Donaldson, Vail Town Clerk, informed the CSE that the State of Colorado has determined that Arrabelle can no longer reduce their Resort Complex liquor license, as doing so changes the “base license” for the entire property. This will have an effect on how events can be produced in LionsHead. The following options will be available: Liquor sales will be limited to the area within the Vail Square @ Arrabelle under their existing license. Arrabelle expands their license throughout the mall, and manages all liquor sales under their own license. The LH Mall area and Vail Square @ Arrabelle will be separated, with each area offering alcohol sales under separate licenses. Arrabelle changes their license to a “Hotel and Resort” category, with an optional premise. Donaldson added that this is something they do not wish to do. She closed by stating that the potential for a non-profit, special event liquor license which includes the Arrabelle’s property is gone, and suggested that, with respect to Oktoberfest, Arrabelle expand their license and work together with Highline Sports to develop a plan that will serve the entire area. Laurie Asmussen/Eagle Valley Events distributed recaps for the Vail Arts Festival and Vail America Days. Beginning with the Arts Festival, Asmussen stated that the event did see a slight drop in attendance with so many things going on at once. She added that the LionsHead businesses continue to embrace the event, but that parking, particularly on Friday, was particularly challenging. Asmussen said that survey data will be forthcoming, but questioned the CSE as to whether the event was worth continuing. Bank described a “charitable component” that is part of the Cherry Creek Arts Festival- which asks participating artist to contribute a work which would be sold at an auction, with all proceeds going to a local charitable organization. Chapin asked how the sales compare with other Mountain community arts festivals. Asmussen replied that they are “on target’ with other Mountain communities, but can’t compare to Cherry Creek, which attracts 380,000+ attendees. Moving on to Vail America Days, Asmussen stated that the parade had 61entries and that the Farmers’ Market had been a good addition to the event. She identified areas for improvement as: How to bridge the span between the parade and the fireworks and to keep people in town after the parade? Expand the fireworks display. Council feedback has been that they are too small. In response to complaints that were heard this year, Asmussen explained that the fireworks display had been compressed and sent off early on account on the impending bad weather. This was a last minute decision made by the fireworks company in the interest of salvaging what they could of the production. McDonald and Navas stated that the Town Manager and the Town Council have asked that the CSE look at ways to make the event bigger and to add a “popular” concert which would lead up to the fireworks, keep people in town through the dinner hour and provide an alternative for the people who are not able to get in to, or would prefer a non-classical alternative to the Patriotic Concert at the amphitheater. McDonald also added that they have met with the Police Dept. to discuss how to improve the “parade etiquette” and the safety concerns which are largely caused by the gaps in the flow. Asmussen has been directed to look at how other communities, particularly in larger cities, “choreograph” their parades to address these issues. King of the Mountain Volleyball Tournament: Leon Fell distributed a summary of the event; no P & L numbers were included and no explanation was offered. Fell stated that 414 teams participated in this year’s event, up 13% from 2009, and that the Vail tournament is the 2nd largest in the Rocky Mountain region. Fell explained that the event’s demographic is active, young couples and families and that they work with 4 hotels in Vail who offer complimentary rooms for the event staff; adding that the event can account directly for at least 275 room nights. Growth in the event is attributed to the development of the Fathers’ Day focus, including father/daughter and father/son events; which are unique to this tournament. Fell added that without additional sand courts they cannot grow the more elite divisions of the tournament, and without these elite players it is not possible to grow the spectator base. Motion to accept the final recaps and release the final payments for the BBQ Bonanza, South of the Border Fiesta, Vail Arts Festival and Vail America Days. M/S/P: McKown, Kirkham, All in favor except Bank. The motion passed 5 to 1. CSE members did not approve the final payment for the King of the Mountain Volleyball Tournament, as the recap did not include a budget or other specifically requested information. The board also directed Navas to remove event review items from future agendas if the complete information requested is not submitted electronically by the Friday prior to the meeting. 2011 RFP: Review and approve draft of the RFP and confirm dates and times for the review and allocation meetings. (This item was moved ahead in the agenda due to some technical difficulties with the projector.) The CSE approved the RFP and the associated meeting schedule as presented by consensus. The board suggested that Sybill approach the VRD regarding the development of an indoor event at Dobson over Memorial Day weekend. “This Week in Vail:” Review template, provide feedback on what level of detail should be included in the lists, and suggest possible expanded distribution of the current tool. Sara Stookey, Town of Vail, Communications Intern presented the “This Week in Vail” newsletter to the CSE stating that, “overall the feedback for the newsletter has been very positive. Everyone seems to love the concept and has agreed that, it has been a long time coming …several of the concierges at local hotels that I visited have said that they love the newsletter; that it is one of the most helpful things to come their way in a long time.” CSE members agreed that it is a very useful tool and made the following suggestions to improve the document: Create a section indicating if a large group of people are in town (such as a group of doctors for a conference) and where they are staying. Add phone numbers to the bottom of each event, in addition to the websites so that people may more easily contact the event producer. When people confirm at a hotel, have the concierge send them a confirmation email with a link to the This Week in Vail newsletter so that out of town guests can view it before they arrive. Indicate (as per the Town of Vail website) which events are free. Bold or highlight the word free so that people know, and so that the Free Events section does not need to be expanded. Under the Free Events section, add a link to a webpage that lists all of the free events that occur over the summer. Put a link on all of the popular websites (such as the VRD or the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens) that frequent the newsletter. Request that if an event is listed in the newsletter, that company or producers put a link to the newsletter on their home page. The Town should continue to publish the newsletter in all seasons. New Business: Rich tenBraak, representing the VCBA, invited the CSE members to the Vail Automotive Classic, “Wheels and Wings,” which will be held at the Vail Valley Jet Center on Saturday, September 11, where a number of airplanes will be included alongside the car display, and will be followed by a classic car display in Vail Village on Sunday, September 12. The idea of developing Vail as a site for a destination “car show” was first raised by members of the business community during the discussions last summer about what kinds of new events/activities might help to drive business. He explained that the strategy is to “take it up a level” each year, to a “concours” (a judged classic auto display) in year 2 or 3 and eventually to develop it into a large destination auto auction. He added that they hope to involve some of the Colorado Grand participants. McKown encouraged everyone to attend the Vail Firefighter Combat Challenge on August 28-29, and complimented everyone on their efforts, which have resulted in over 100 registered competitors to date. Motion to Adjourn at 11:40 a.m. M/S/P: McKown, Bruno, Unanimous . Next CSE Meeting: Wednesday, September 1, 2010 @ 9:00 a.m.