Carefree Truth
Issue #678, August 3, 2018

Councilwoman Cheryl Kroyer reported that last year, Gina Kaegi was exploring alternative ways to run the Enchanted Pumpkin Garden and to make it self sustaining.  As this signature event became progressively more popular, it became harder to find volunteers to man all the stations, harder to manage, and the burden on the staff grew exponentially. 



The next evolution of the Pumpkin Festival involved finding a company capable of providing equipment, entertainment, a Food & Beverage Garden, media relations, social media coverage, lighting, security, and support personnel under one umbrella, and which could also help to facilitate and improve the cost recovery model already begun by the Town.  The objective was to find a company to provide these comprehensive logistics for municipal events that would work for the Town, allowing Carefree to maintain the creative quality control.  Requests for Qualifications went out to Pride, Pro-EM, and Centerpoint Events.  Centerpoint was chosen because it had the unique framework to manage the event and provide cost recovery services with the goal of eventually turning a profit.


Centerpoint will plan and coordinate all event logistics including vendors, the Beer Garden, carving nights, security, clean up, entertainment, kids activities, real time event social media, daily media contacts, etc.  They will staff all the activities and coordinate all revenue producing activities to maximize cost recovery.  They will work with Ray Villafane and his carvers, whose magic makes this Festival work.



The Town will continue to produce digital and print media prior to the event, and will manage the Welcome tent and sell merchandise for an estimated $8,000 profit after expenses.  In 2017, the expenses were $161,974 and the revenues were $40,319.  It is important to keep the community and the non profit organizations involved and to give the non profits an opportunity to make money.


Josh Friedman, the Event Director, is the founding partner  and owner of Centerpoint.  He has 15 years of experience and the logistical resources to organize and run municipal events.  He has studied the management and operations of the Pumpkin Festival, so he can seamlessly transition into the role.  Ms. Kroyer handed the floor over to Mr. Friedman.


Mr. Friedman said he began talking to Gina and Vicki last December.  He was told there were 3 main goals.  1. Ensure that the customer experience is positive and worth their time and money.  2. Look for new revenue streams to make the event more self sufficient without making the customers feel uncomfortable.  3. Ensure that the town and its citizens are well represented to the world.  The event receives state, national and international coverage.  The purpose was to remove the burden of logistics planning from the Town staff.


Centerpoint will continue to highlight Ray and the pumpkins, there will be entertainment throughout the weekend days vs. 1 show daily in 2017, and a smaller stage will be set up off to the side.  They want to showcase local talent and to work with the school district to showcase students.  There will be 25-30 vendor tents vs. 15 in 2017, and the Kids' Area will be expanded.  They will operate all the food and beverage trucks, and will add new experiences to keep people coming back.



Vendor fees will increase to what the vendors have said they feel is fair market value.  Last year, the Beer Garden was run by the Desert Foothills Theater.  This year, the Sonoran Arts League will run it.  In 2017, 25% of the profits from the Beer Garden went to the non profit and 75% went to the 3rd party vendor.  In 2018, 25% will still go to the non profit, but the other 75% will come back to the Town.  Centerpoint is looking for new ways to increase non profit participation and fundraising opportunities.


$77,000 in total cost recovery revenues is conservatively estimated in 2018.  Excluding Ray's contract, in 2017 the expenses were $62,000 and the income was $40,319.  Based on the current plan to date, in 2018 the expenses will be $70,000 and the income will be $77,000.  They have already pinpointed $30,000 in opportunities that had been missed in previous years due to inexperience.


Previously, members of the Town staff were asked to do their regular jobs, then to be at the Festival on evenings and weekends.  Centerpoint will take the burden off of the staff and volunteers.  Mr. Friedman noted, "You can only abuse people for so long".  Centerpoint specializes in unique events.  They took a horse stable and turned it into a black tie affair.  They take the customer's vision and turn it into reality.  His staff has extensive government experience, since many have worked in government, so they know about codes, safety regulations and finance rules.  Centerpoint is a full service production company that is very cost effective.  Their goal is to create long term relationships.

https://vimeo.com/278768546





Lyn Hitchon


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