Bikes, Blues and BBQ was again a success for the city, and the decision to purchase downtown parking for bikers was a positive move, according to members of the Eureka Springs City Advertising and Promotion Commission.
At its regular monthly meeting held Wednesday, Sept. 25, the CAPC reported that a majority of the business owners surveyed after the event reported a successful BB&B while 863 motorcycles were parked throughout the event in approximately 40 parking spaces adjacent to the The Auditorium and courthouse.
“We had a very good weekend with Bikes, Blues and BBQ,” CAPC director Mike Maloney said of the Northwest Arkansas event held Sept. 18-21, primarily in Rogers and Eureka Springs. “It was very successful. We had some great comments and response from the overall community.”
The CAPC paid $1,071 to reserve the parking spaces for bikers, Maloney said.
“It kept organization and basically it helped take care of a real quandary, which is a lot of vehicles in a small area,” he said.
Commissioner David Avanzino responded: “These are motorcycles that we kept out of residential areas inappropriately parked. This is what we did.”
Reserving spots for motorcycles is a different animal than reserving for other, larger vehicles, Maloney said when asked about CAPC paying for parking for other events.
“When you consider if you had 40 parking spots filled with cars, some of those cars might not move for an entire day. The turnover would have been miserable, if at all,” Maloney said. “You had 863 bikes, obviously, in and out. You were able to park multiple vehicles in a single space. I think the opportunity to go ahead and take that amount of traffic off the road safely, and also provide port-a-potties for those people became really a public service.
“… Let’s give them a safe place to park. Let’s give them a place where they can go and take advantage of the downtown retail, the downtown shops, the restaurants, and obviously lodging as well. It just makes good common sense to do that.”
While feeling the cost to reserve the parking was a minimal expense, Avanzino noted that the majority of the cost would, in return, be paid by the tourists using the spaces.
“Out of that $1,071, probably $100 was actually paid by locals dining in the city,” Avanzino said. “The rest were paid by the tourists that we’re here to cater to. So, the tourists actually paid for those parking spots.”
Commissioner Heather Wilson said she visited with more than 20 business owners over three days after BB&B, reporting that “many celebrated their best weekend in months,” which differs from negative things she said she saw posted on social media during and after BB&B.
“In the past week I witnessed a torrent of misinformation and hostility aimed at a community that some have deemed unworthy of Eureka Springs,” Wilson said. “Some of the same people who stood with me right over here in June against discrimination stood up for it this week. Words like idiots, people who need mental help and other things that I cannot say on this microphone were tossed about.
“… When I headed to town … to speak with business owners personally, I was convinced that I would find them irate, angry and ready to toss me out on my behind when I approached them to ask how things went, and I’d come to this meeting and tell the other commissioners and Mike just that. Well, my hypothesis was wrong. I needed to listen to others and (not) those who were lamenting the loudest.”
While “a few” business owners mentioned the noise of the bikes, most relayed positive experiences with the event, Wilson said.
“They reminded me that their livelihoods and those of their employees are at stake,” Wilson said. “They shared that those without businesses may not be considering this. Even those who didn’t do as well — because there were a couple that said it sucked — wanted to make it clear to me that when others succeed, it benefits everyone and that people come back and shop for the holidays if they have a good experience.”
Avanzino, also a member of the city council and co-owner of Wanderoo Lodge and Gravel Bar, said his business was busy for the event.
“I can only speak for my business,” he said. “We did very, very well. It was not gloom and doom as everybody always thinks is going to happen. And like I mentioned in my council comments, people made a lot of a bigger deal out of this than it actually was. We were very impressed with how the weekend went.”
CATCHING UP ON FINANCES
New financial director Ty Reed reported to commissioners that he’s still playing catch-up with budget information. It took weeks for the CAPC to get access to all budget information after the sudden resignation, by text message, in June of former finance director Scott Bardin.
“I’ve only been digging in this, in the books and stuff, for a few weeks now, so I’m still playing catch-up,” Reed said. “So, digging through things, trying to get things reconciled and trying to figure out how it’s laid out. I’ve completed through July.”
Reed reported the CAPC had $1,970,331.82 in its checking account, and in July, the CAPC had income of $196,454.45. July expenditures were $202,799.22, Reed said.
“Year-to-date income was $972,239.93 and year-to-date expenditures was $1,193,099.31 for a net loss of $220,859.38 through July.”
The commission also approved a resolution that will change its accounting method to a system where monies will be recorded based on when they are received by the CAPC, not necessarily by when they are collected by businesses.
“The [CAPC] recognizes the need to utilize the modified account method as stipulated by the government accounting standards boards,” Maloney read as part of the resolution. “…This method requires the recording of revenues when they are both measurable and available, which is generally when received. … Currently, the accrual method of accounting is used for recording revenue which records revenue in the month it was collected. … The [CAPC] recognizes that the accounting method change will result in one month with no recognized revenue.”
The commission also approved midyear budget revisions based on discussions held during a workshop before the regular meeting.
“It’s mainly just shifting money around,” Reed said.
The revisions will increase the budgets for media placement by $36,140, administration and office by $34,000, special events by $17,700 and group sales by $15,100. Budgets will be decreased by $51,940 for advertising production and by $51,000 for The Auditorium.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Maloney reported that two billboard locations on busy interstates in Kansas City will be in place soon, as well as additional boards on I-49 between Springdale and Bentonville, and another near the Walmart home office in Bentonville.
“…Really excited about those that we will be putting up just as soon as they get completely approved,” Maloney said. “The [Kansas City] boards are on Interstates 70 and 49 … both about one to two miles from the Chiefs’ stadium. These boards are clever, they’re funny, they’re good. They’re going to going to get a lot of attention in the Kansas City area.”
New ads will be appearing in AY magazine in Central Arkansas and 417 magazine in Springfield, Maloney said.
“In August paid campaigns garnered over 30 million branded impressions and up 7 million from last month,” Maloney told commissioners. “586,000 clicks were driven to the website from paid campaigns. Our search engine marketing continues to lead in performance with a click through ratio of 27 percent, which the industry average is 7.73.”
A campaign from May through August reported that for every $10 spent by tourists, $1 was invested, Maloney added.
“This is a huge investment,” he said, adding that visitor demographics showed “significant contributions from individuals aged 45-plus, and those with higher net worths and household incomes.”
The ads were placed on sites such as Better Homes and Gardens, Shape, Travel and Leisure, and ESPN, Maloney reported.
In demographics, the top five cities of those visiting visiteurekasprings. com were Dallas, Tulsa, Chicago, Kansas City and Oklahoma City.
The “Free to Be” campaign that in June became the source of a controversy involving then-CAPC chair Chris Clifton, who eventually resigned after public backlash, is officially being used, Maloney said.
“Free to Be is now officially all over the internet right now,” Maloney said. “That’s one of those things that you’ll get to see as we put the paid media up on the website, our impressions with our billboards, with AY, all of our digital impressions. Now, everything has been moved over to ‘Free to Be.’
“It’s taken a while to get there, but on the same token, when you see the ads, you’ll understand why the wait was well worth it.”
FUNDING REQUESTS OK’D
All funding requests presented to commissioners were approved, including a new event scheduled for November that will recognize something that happened more than a century ago.
The Eureka Springs Historical Museum will receive $2,650 in marketing support for an event that will be held on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center and will be called the “Jailbird Ball,” according to Jeff Danos, director of the museum.
“…We ran across a historic article from 125 years ago about four inmates from the Eureka Springs jailhouse that broke out of jail one night,” Danos said. “The fun part about it is that they broke out of jail so they could go to a dance. And then at the end of the night, they tried to break back into the jail. It’s a really fun story and a true story. It got spread all over the country and was thought to be a great, great news item.
“We just thought this would be something fun for us because we love to promote the history of the town, and we also need good fundraisers for the museum that fit into our mission statement.”
Those attending the event will be encouraged to dress in “stripes” or as jailbirds, Danos said.
“I’m sure some will dress as police officers, too,” he said.
The event will include participants being “booked” into jail, getting a mug shot taken, and being fed a meal, Danos said.
“And then at some point in the night, we’re going to have a simulated jailbreak that takes them to another themed area at the convention center where we will have the big dance,” he added.
The marketing funds will be used for advertising such as rack cards for visitor centers, social media and local publications such as Eureka! Magazine, Danos said.
“What’s going to be fun is we hope to try to find a different historical story each year and create a new event,” Danos said. “It’ll be based on the same framework, but have a new story behind it.”
Heart of Eureka requested for $5,000 for a series of annual holiday events including “Shop Small,” which will be held Nov. 30 in Basin Spring Park to kick off the Christmas season. Other Heart of Eureka Events which will benefit from the funding include the annual Living Windows, Holiday Window Contest, and the Mug Crawl, where patrons buy a coffee mug and get it filled with hot chocolate at participating businesses.
The Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce was OK’d for $5,000 in funding to help with advertising for the annual Christmas Parade of Lights, which is the city’s annual Christmas parade, and will be held Friday, Dec. 6. This year’s theme is “A Board Game Christmas.”
The CAPC approved a $1,500 request from Escape Room 13 for a double feature movie event to be held Oct. 12 and 19 at The Auditorium. Two movies will be shown on those nights. “Pass The Ammo,” a comedy starring Tim Curry that was filmed in Eureka Springs in 1986 and released in 1988, will be shown, as will “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”