07-18-05 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. . . ~ ~~HILLS MEMOR4.NDUM DATE: AGENDA ITEM 2.B July 13,2005 TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Michelle Wolfe, City Administrator~ SUBJECT: July 18 Work Session: Celebrate Arden Hills Event Attached you have a report from Michelle Olson regarding Celebrate Arden Hills, As you know, the event was quite successful again this year. Michelle has done a great job outlining some discussion points, as we are ready to begin looking forward to next year's event. There is, howcver, one particular aspect of the event that I wanted to explore a little further with the CounciL The BBQ Dinner presents the largest number of challenges for this event, Ticket sales are unpredictable, and we have to give a set number to the caterer well in advance, This means that we will pay a minimum regardless of whether we sell the number of tickets, This year, staff did not know the total number of tickets that had been sold until after the event. Weather and other factors can affect same-day sales, If the weather is poor, or attendance is down for some other reason, we can end up with a large number of unsold tickets, The City pays for these unsold tickets, On the other hand, as happened last year, we can sell out of the remaining tickets, Then we have to turn people away, What is especially troubling about that scenario is that there was plenty of food, which people could see, but we still had to turn them away. With the current scenario, the City pays a certain price per person, We charge an amount for the tickets that is less than that price, Then, if we don't sell all of the tickets we have committed to, we pay that additional cost as welL With food vendors, they pay us to be able to be there, We gain a revenue, and are not paying for the food, unsold tickets, etc, Last year it was apparent that many feel the BBQ Dinner is the "signature" of the Celebrate Arden Hills event. What staff would recommend for consideration is a different approach that still captures the essence of why the BBQ Dinner is popular. For example, it provides a community gathering, That could be accomplished by still providing the tent and tables, with food vendors situated around the tent. and everyone still eating together in the same area, If another aspect of thc dinner is the nature and type of food, i,e, the BBQ, we could still offer a catered meal option (with a few changes to the current model) and supplement it with other vendors.