Carefree Truth
                Issue #690, September 24, 2018


Denise Colter of Thunderbird Artists reported that their art shows began in 1981.  In 1991, Chamber of Commerce Director Beverly Peagler visited a Thunderbird show at Scottsdale Pavilions, fell in love with it, and asked them to produce a show in Carefree.  The first show in January of 1991, which utilized a portion of Easy Street, drew over 4,000 visitors.  The Town requested a fall show, and merchants on Hum requested that the footprint be expanded to include Ho Hum Road.  The November show was so successful that a spring show was added the following March.  In 1994, wine tasting was added, and it has been one of Arizona's largest wine tasting events ever since.  It is the only show that allows patrons to walk the entire show with their wine glasses.


In 2001, Thunderbird began charging admission, which helped narrow the crowds to an affluent upscale clientele interested in fine art, high end galleries, boutiques and specialty restaurants.  As a way of saying thank you for the support, Thunderbird donates 25% of the proceeds to the Town and 25% to the Carefree/Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce.  From November 2003-March 2018, the Town has received $248,000 in admission fee donations, and from January 2010-March 2018 the Town has received $156,631 in special event permit fees.  From November 2003-March 2018, the Chamber has received $248,000 in admission fee donations and from January 2004-March 2018, the Chamber has received $196,000 in wine funds.


In August 2018, the Carefree Thunderbird Fine Art & Wine Festival was selected as one of the best festivals in N. America in a Flightnetwork article.  Also in 2018, The Best of Arizona Businesses ranked Thunderbird Artists as #1 of the Top 10 for entertainment and in 2017, as among the top 10 for festivals.  In 2016, the November Carefree Thunderbird show ranked #24 in the Top 100 shows for "AFSB Blue Chip 100 Fine Art Events".



Other avenues of promotion include reputation/word of mouth, press releases, articles, posters, fliers, signage, social media platforms, participating artists mailing lists, concierges, online calendars, Thunderbird Artists' award winning website, TV and radio interviews, and live TV coverage.  Last season, a total of 150 cable TV ads ran on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, HGTV, Hallmark, and Lifetime.  Carefree received exposure in print ads run in the Arizona Republic/ azcentral.com., the Fountain Hills Times, the CitySunTimes, the Foothills Focus, the Sonoran News, the Carefree/Cave Creek Chamber of Commerce, as well as in Phoenix Home & Garden, Home Design, IMAGES AZ, American Art Collector, Scottsdale Modern Luxury, Experience Arizona, Where, Arizona Jewish Life, South Scottsdale, Travelhost, AZBIGMEDIA, and Arizona Drive Guide magazines.  These publications have a total circulation of 3,435,558 and a total readership of 6,883,326.



Thunderbird Artists mails out 30,000 postcards, 20,000 of which are mailed directly to patron and VIP databases.  The 2017/18 Thunderbird Program Guide was included inside the 50,000 printed Travel/Host Magazines which are featured in 400 hotels and upscale resorts, 5 Scottsdale AJ's Fine Food stores, 7 locations within Sky Harbor Airport and the car rental terminal, the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, and all 66 official Visitors Centers in Arizona.  20,000 additional Guides were printed and handed out at all 8 of the Thunderbird Fine Art & Wine Festivals.


The demographics from the 2017/18 Carefree Thunderbird Artists festivals showed 47% of those surveyed attended from outside of the Phoenix metropolitan area, 74% of the attendees credited the festival for their decision to visit Carefree, and 56% came with the intention to purchase artwork.  50% of the attendees lived in households with an annual income of over $100,000.  25% were business owners.  70% were female.  The average age was 45-65.


Throughout the years, many minor modifications were made which resulted in the show's decreased footprint.  Mrs. Dobson stated that the footprint and location have been fine tuned over the years and should remain the same, rather than moving it to a different location away from the shops, as was previously suggested by 2 Council members.  She said if it were moved to the suggested location, Easy Street would be utilized for parking by the festival attendees.  This would result in the loss of the festival foot traffic along Easy Street and along Ho Hum that currently benefits the businesses and restaurants.  During the Thunderbird shows on 5th Avenue in Old Town Scottsdale, the businesses along 6th Avenue experienced this issue with the utilization of the parking spaces on their street, and requested that the festival be expanded to include 6th Avenue.  The request was granted and the merchants were pleased by the resulting increase in their sales from the foot traffic generated.  Successful art festivals tend to held on streets lined with local businesses.  In addition, the event is too large to be held in the suggested revised location, there is limited power and lighting, the artists' parking area interferes, and the street closures there would present a safety hazard.  Mrs. Colter played audios from several Carefree merchants who strongly supported the Thunderbird festivals, speaking of the quality of the shows and saying they brought the right demographics, increasing energy and sales in town.

https://vimeo.com/288828132


Lyn Hitchon


Prepared by Carefree Truth
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