Carefree Truth
Issue #545, January 20, 2017
Mayor Les Peterson asked Marketing Director Gina Kaegi to summarize the 2016 Enchanted Pumpkin Garden Festival. She created it and has shepherded it to become one of the major events in the Valley.
Mrs. Kaegi reported that although Ray Villafane does large events around the country and around the world, he continues to work in Carefree and considers it home. He is working 2-3 days a week in his studio in Spanish Village. She encouraged people to stop by and say hello.
The 2016 Pumpkin Festival had 3 new sponsors, the Jelly Belly Candy Company, Toll Brothers Builders and Russ Lyon Realty, coordinated by Betsy Lynn, as well as continuing sponsorships by the Carefree Resort and APS. Bashas' provided a free treat to those who brought selfies of a carved pumpkin out of the Carefree Desert Gardens. Let There Be Light donated over $10,000 worth of lighting. Venues baked pies for the contest, and Mortimer Farms donated pumpkins and corn stalks.
Scarecrows, the large horse on the amphitheater stage, Pumpkin Town, gourmet food trucks and a Beer Garden, a merchandise/Town of Carefree information booth, the Pumpkin Pin Hunt, a pumpkin pie eating contest, face painting, a pumpkin glass blower, the pumpkin patch, witch story reading with the Mayor and Councilman Mike Krahe (the Mayor said Mike was "famous"), and hay rides were added to the mix. Over $15,000 of merchandise was sold. Mrs. Kaegi gave Carefree Administrative Assistant Vicki Zimmerman a lot of credit for the success of the merchandising effort. Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer organized over 100 volunteers. It has become a community event, driven by people who love it.
Phoenix Magazine rated The Enchanted Pumpkin Garden one of the "Top 5 Things To Do in October" statewide and it was rated #1 for their Viewers' Choice Award. There was a 20-25% bump in attendance, and the Festival garnered much TV and online attention via media and photography that is shared with the entire world. Ray Villafane was interviewed multiple times on-site in the Gardens by TV stations. The Festival was highlighted on Channels 3, 5, 10 and 12, as well as receiving significant coverage online and in print media. The calculated PR value was $48,000. Mrs. Kaegi sent out a press release nationwide, and ABC responded. They sent a team to make a time lapse video. (ABC also used many of Herbert's still photographs!)
Issue #545, January 20, 2017
Mayor Les Peterson asked Marketing Director Gina Kaegi to summarize the 2016 Enchanted Pumpkin Garden Festival. She created it and has shepherded it to become one of the major events in the Valley.
Mrs. Kaegi reported that although Ray Villafane does large events around the country and around the world, he continues to work in Carefree and considers it home. He is working 2-3 days a week in his studio in Spanish Village. She encouraged people to stop by and say hello.
The 2016 Pumpkin Festival had 3 new sponsors, the Jelly Belly Candy Company, Toll Brothers Builders and Russ Lyon Realty, coordinated by Betsy Lynn, as well as continuing sponsorships by the Carefree Resort and APS. Bashas' provided a free treat to those who brought selfies of a carved pumpkin out of the Carefree Desert Gardens. Let There Be Light donated over $10,000 worth of lighting. Venues baked pies for the contest, and Mortimer Farms donated pumpkins and corn stalks.
Scarecrows, the large horse on the amphitheater stage, Pumpkin Town, gourmet food trucks and a Beer Garden, a merchandise/Town of Carefree information booth, the Pumpkin Pin Hunt, a pumpkin pie eating contest, face painting, a pumpkin glass blower, the pumpkin patch, witch story reading with the Mayor and Councilman Mike Krahe (the Mayor said Mike was "famous"), and hay rides were added to the mix. Over $15,000 of merchandise was sold. Mrs. Kaegi gave Carefree Administrative Assistant Vicki Zimmerman a lot of credit for the success of the merchandising effort. Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer organized over 100 volunteers. It has become a community event, driven by people who love it.
Phoenix Magazine rated The Enchanted Pumpkin Garden one of the "Top 5 Things To Do in October" statewide and it was rated #1 for their Viewers' Choice Award. There was a 20-25% bump in attendance, and the Festival garnered much TV and online attention via media and photography that is shared with the entire world. Ray Villafane was interviewed multiple times on-site in the Gardens by TV stations. The Festival was highlighted on Channels 3, 5, 10 and 12, as well as receiving significant coverage online and in print media. The calculated PR value was $48,000. Mrs. Kaegi sent out a press release nationwide, and ABC responded. They sent a team to make a time lapse video. (ABC also used many of Herbert's still photographs!)
Carefree's new Enchanted Pumpkin Garden Facebook page, created in September, received 2071 Likes in 6 weeks, and worldwide from October 14th-31st it reached 86,554 people. The website Mrs. Kaegi built received 20,681 unique visitors in 2015. This year it received 54,512, a 62% increase, with the average visit lasting 2:29 minutes. Digital marketing is invaluable. People tend to click on the pumpkin photos, which takes them to the website. The Pumpkin Festival holds the record for most interactions on a post on AZ Central.com.
New this year was the Pumpkin Pin Hunt executed by the Chamber of Commerce. Limited Edition Pumpkin Pins were hidden by local business. When found, people returned the pins to the respective businesses and were given a gift certificate or prize worth $50 or more. The Grand Prize, a carved pumpkin, was selected out of a hat of winners names during the hunt and awarded to Sue Bickerdyke of Sue Bickerdyke Interiors and Home Furnishings, located in the Bashas' Center. This year, 3 food trucks per day and the Craft Beer Garden were added. Udder Delight, the ice cream truck, sold over 11,000 worth of ice cream. Utilizing their liquor license, the Desert Foothills Theater ran the Beer Garden, netting over $6000 for their non profit theater group. The feedback was that the food was very good. Festival merchandise sold by the Town included T-shirts with multiple design choices, lit pumpkin lanyards, postcards, pumpkin books, vine arms and legs, carving tools and pumpkin pins, totaling $15,201.50, helping to promote the event and to cover some of the hard costs of the Festival.
The Picasso Pumpkin Arts and Crafts provided activities for kids hosted by the Easy Street Galleria with a new activity of painting or “Designing Your Own Pumpkin” which was a huge hit and lucrative for the Galleria. Pumpkins were also sold at the “Adopt a Pumpkin Patch” for $10 apiece, which was donated to the local YMCA for a swimming lesson for a child. Complete with a birth certificate generated by Mrs. Kaegi they sold over 400. The 2 nights of YMCA sponsored Pumpkin Carving lessons were sold out in advance, netting $6,795, up from around $3,000 in 2015.
The Cactus Shadows High School art students spent a couple of hours with Ray, who was formerly an art teacher and who loves interacting with teens, learning the sculpting trade and some life lessons. "Do what you love and you will always experience success and happiness."-Ray Villafane. Cave Creek Unified School District Superintendent Debbie Burdick called Mayor Peterson to thank him for providing a unique and rare experience. Ray has received many inspirational letters from both the students and the teachers again this year. Ray has a very positive outlook and the kids seem to gravitate towards what he has to say.
This is a community event and draws lots of people. Mrs. Kaegi thanked Chief John Kraetz and his Rural/Metro team who, along with Vice Mayor John Crane, put the pumpkins to bed every night. The ritual was a labor of love. The entire event is a lot of work but is also very rewarding.
The Town is not looking to make money from the Festival but it needs to think about covering more of the hard costs. Costs for the 15 day event came to $60,849. Sponsors provided $18,500 and merchandise sales came to $15,202. This left a balance of $27,147. The Pumpkin Festival sponsorships are for larger amounts, upwards of $7,500-$1,500, than for other Carefree festivals, but this event is longer and attracts more local and global attention. It is more difficult to get truly large corporate sponsorships, typically $20,000-$40,000, for non-ticketed events because it is difficult to track the demographics.
Mrs. Kaegi made the following recommendations for the 2017 Pumpkin Festival, incorporating suggestions from many of the people who worked the Festival. Continue to provide quality food trucks. Do not charge admission but charge participants a fee or a percentage of profits. Find sponsorships for specified activities and charge small fees for others such as the hay rides and other small activities. Most people now expect to pay for these types of activities. Also, increase the kid related activities and the gift market. She suggested extending the event to stretch the season by starting an un-marketed debut vignette on October 16th, when people could come to watch Ray and his team gradually assemble the exhibits. This portion would not include structured events or pumpkin carving activities. The "official" Festival would run from October 20th-29th. She felt these recommendations would not only help to cover the costs, but would allow the Town to enhance the Festival, making it an even better experience.
The Pumpkin Festival creates awareness and brands the town, and can help to attract new businesses to town. During the Festival, 2 or 3 restaurants who were interested in coming into Carefree contacted the Mayor. Jo Gemmill, owner of the English Rose Tea Room, Catherine Marr, owner of Venues Cafe, and Mike Kennelly, owner of The UPS Store, all sent glowing testimonials about the Festival to Town Hall.
Mayor Peterson thanked Gina for her presentation and said he had received many positive comments. The Pumpkin Festival was very successful. It helps to brand the town as artistic and creative, and garners a lot of publicity.
John Traynor noted that Mrs. Kaegi had said the Town doesn't want to become a merchandiser. He asked why not, when they made money from the merchandise. Mrs. Kaegi responded that she was all for making money. But not being a merchandiser she had not realized how labor intensive it would be. It all takes planning, time and volunteers. The biggest problem is labor. She was designing T shirts at midnight the day before it opened, and it was difficult to ensure that people would be there to work the booth. It must become more streamlined. Mrs. Kaegi said she couldn't have done it without all the help from Council and staff members.
One option is to offer more of the few top selling simple items like the lit pumpkin lanyards and less of the more complex items like T shirts that come in many sizes and designs. The lanyards sold out and they could have sold more. $10,000 worth of T shirts sold, but about $6,000 worth of T shirts remain. Rather than selling 15 different items, perhaps limit it to 5. Another option is for the Town to sell the simpler items and to hire a merchandiser to sell the more varied items, taking a percentage of the profits from those items. Vice Mayor John Crane added that the merchandising took a lot of staff hours during an election with early voting available at Town Hall. It really stressed the Town resources. Mr. Traynor suggested starting a volunteer search as early as summer to have a better helper base.
Councilman Jim Van Allen asked Mr. Traynor if he thought it would be a good idea to bring a local bar owner in to replace the beer truck. Mr. Traynor said it was run by non profits who brought in a lot of volunteers, and he felt it would be stepping on their toes to move them out and take all the profits.
Click below to watch the video and slides of the presentation.
New this year was the Pumpkin Pin Hunt executed by the Chamber of Commerce. Limited Edition Pumpkin Pins were hidden by local business. When found, people returned the pins to the respective businesses and were given a gift certificate or prize worth $50 or more. The Grand Prize, a carved pumpkin, was selected out of a hat of winners names during the hunt and awarded to Sue Bickerdyke of Sue Bickerdyke Interiors and Home Furnishings, located in the Bashas' Center. This year, 3 food trucks per day and the Craft Beer Garden were added. Udder Delight, the ice cream truck, sold over 11,000 worth of ice cream. Utilizing their liquor license, the Desert Foothills Theater ran the Beer Garden, netting over $6000 for their non profit theater group. The feedback was that the food was very good. Festival merchandise sold by the Town included T-shirts with multiple design choices, lit pumpkin lanyards, postcards, pumpkin books, vine arms and legs, carving tools and pumpkin pins, totaling $15,201.50, helping to promote the event and to cover some of the hard costs of the Festival.
The Picasso Pumpkin Arts and Crafts provided activities for kids hosted by the Easy Street Galleria with a new activity of painting or “Designing Your Own Pumpkin” which was a huge hit and lucrative for the Galleria. Pumpkins were also sold at the “Adopt a Pumpkin Patch” for $10 apiece, which was donated to the local YMCA for a swimming lesson for a child. Complete with a birth certificate generated by Mrs. Kaegi they sold over 400. The 2 nights of YMCA sponsored Pumpkin Carving lessons were sold out in advance, netting $6,795, up from around $3,000 in 2015.
The Cactus Shadows High School art students spent a couple of hours with Ray, who was formerly an art teacher and who loves interacting with teens, learning the sculpting trade and some life lessons. "Do what you love and you will always experience success and happiness."-Ray Villafane. Cave Creek Unified School District Superintendent Debbie Burdick called Mayor Peterson to thank him for providing a unique and rare experience. Ray has received many inspirational letters from both the students and the teachers again this year. Ray has a very positive outlook and the kids seem to gravitate towards what he has to say.
This is a community event and draws lots of people. Mrs. Kaegi thanked Chief John Kraetz and his Rural/Metro team who, along with Vice Mayor John Crane, put the pumpkins to bed every night. The ritual was a labor of love. The entire event is a lot of work but is also very rewarding.
The Town is not looking to make money from the Festival but it needs to think about covering more of the hard costs. Costs for the 15 day event came to $60,849. Sponsors provided $18,500 and merchandise sales came to $15,202. This left a balance of $27,147. The Pumpkin Festival sponsorships are for larger amounts, upwards of $7,500-$1,500, than for other Carefree festivals, but this event is longer and attracts more local and global attention. It is more difficult to get truly large corporate sponsorships, typically $20,000-$40,000, for non-ticketed events because it is difficult to track the demographics.
Mrs. Kaegi made the following recommendations for the 2017 Pumpkin Festival, incorporating suggestions from many of the people who worked the Festival. Continue to provide quality food trucks. Do not charge admission but charge participants a fee or a percentage of profits. Find sponsorships for specified activities and charge small fees for others such as the hay rides and other small activities. Most people now expect to pay for these types of activities. Also, increase the kid related activities and the gift market. She suggested extending the event to stretch the season by starting an un-marketed debut vignette on October 16th, when people could come to watch Ray and his team gradually assemble the exhibits. This portion would not include structured events or pumpkin carving activities. The "official" Festival would run from October 20th-29th. She felt these recommendations would not only help to cover the costs, but would allow the Town to enhance the Festival, making it an even better experience.
The Pumpkin Festival creates awareness and brands the town, and can help to attract new businesses to town. During the Festival, 2 or 3 restaurants who were interested in coming into Carefree contacted the Mayor. Jo Gemmill, owner of the English Rose Tea Room, Catherine Marr, owner of Venues Cafe, and Mike Kennelly, owner of The UPS Store, all sent glowing testimonials about the Festival to Town Hall.
Mayor Peterson thanked Gina for her presentation and said he had received many positive comments. The Pumpkin Festival was very successful. It helps to brand the town as artistic and creative, and garners a lot of publicity.
John Traynor noted that Mrs. Kaegi had said the Town doesn't want to become a merchandiser. He asked why not, when they made money from the merchandise. Mrs. Kaegi responded that she was all for making money. But not being a merchandiser she had not realized how labor intensive it would be. It all takes planning, time and volunteers. The biggest problem is labor. She was designing T shirts at midnight the day before it opened, and it was difficult to ensure that people would be there to work the booth. It must become more streamlined. Mrs. Kaegi said she couldn't have done it without all the help from Council and staff members.
One option is to offer more of the few top selling simple items like the lit pumpkin lanyards and less of the more complex items like T shirts that come in many sizes and designs. The lanyards sold out and they could have sold more. $10,000 worth of T shirts sold, but about $6,000 worth of T shirts remain. Rather than selling 15 different items, perhaps limit it to 5. Another option is for the Town to sell the simpler items and to hire a merchandiser to sell the more varied items, taking a percentage of the profits from those items. Vice Mayor John Crane added that the merchandising took a lot of staff hours during an election with early voting available at Town Hall. It really stressed the Town resources. Mr. Traynor suggested starting a volunteer search as early as summer to have a better helper base.
Councilman Jim Van Allen asked Mr. Traynor if he thought it would be a good idea to bring a local bar owner in to replace the beer truck. Mr. Traynor said it was run by non profits who brought in a lot of volunteers, and he felt it would be stepping on their toes to move them out and take all the profits.
Click below to watch the video and slides of the presentation.
Presentation and summary regarding the October, 2016 Carefree Enchanted Pumpkin Garden: 1/3/17
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list. Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.
Lyn Hitchon
Prepared by Carefree Truth
Visit our website at www.carefreetruth2.com If you know anyone who would like to be added to the Carefree Truth email list, please have them contact me. Feel free to share Carefree Truth with others on your list. Visit www.carefreeazbusinesses.com to see more info about businesses in Carefree. Please support our merchants.