AlexRiverFete Assessment 2013 (v.2.0)

2013 Cos t s and A t tendance Summary

insIDESee

fete - overview 1

fete - budget 3

fete - in-kind 4

fete - investment 5

fete - attendance 6

fete -vs- que’in 7

thanks - fete 8

OVERVIEWThe City of Alexandria, in partnership with dozens of local arts organizations and programs, combined the success of existing cultural events, and brought them “all under one roof” for three days in Downtown Alexandria.

AlexRiverFête, a brand-new festival celebrating the arts, culture and heritage of Central Louisiana, debuted the weekend of May 9-11, 2013.

Together with numerous local businesses, sponsors, participants, teams and civic leaders, the AlexRiverFête 2013 celebration was a large, unified community effort that embodied the spirit of collaboration.

AlexRiverFete is a new large-scale community event – a new initiative combining three separate events. Most important was the focus on quality of life. In the past, Alexandria struggled to identify, “Who are we? What is special about our home?”

As such, the team developed a marketing campaign positioning the event as a fun-filled celebration of Central Louisiana’s unique heritage, aiming to capture the “spirit” and flavor of the local landscape. Overall event attendance was anticipated between 10,000 and 15,000. Total attendance was around 11,950 people throughout the three-day AlexRiverFete.

The designated Site Group and COA Public Works were responsible for executing setup, maintenance and break-down of the event. Over the course of the three-day AlexRiverFete, City of Alexandria crews and event volunteers were diligent about the cleanliness about the festival grounds, with adequate trash receptacles and trash pick-up schedules to ensure a clean environment for guests. “Man on the Street” surveys with festival-goers indicate an overwhelmingly positive response. Many guests said they liked how they could “pick and choose” from a variety of family-friendly things to

experience, see and do throughout the three-day event. Feedback also indicates guests enjoyed coming to the downtown area for an entire weekend, as opposed to visiting for a few hours for one event. Local newspaper The Town Talk published an opinion piece days after the event, summarizing the importance of community development and its critical place in the community, stating:

“It's not too soon to say that, in important ways, the city of Alexandria's first-ever AlexRiverFête was a success …

“While community development is tough to quantify, it is real, relevant and vital. It is about shared pride and nurturing a sense of place and identity. It has much to do with volunteerism and the volunteer spirit --something special that draws individual people together to effect positive outcomes for the greater good."

Given the marketing budget, Alex River Fete launched an aggressive advertising and publicity campaign via traditional outlets (print, television, and radio) as well as new media (web banners, e-

blasts/e-newsletters and Facebook ads).

Most of the Central Louisiana media offered additional exposure for Alex River Fete through matching editorial, bonus advertising spots, larger ad space/placement, extended air time or additional interviews. Through heightened advertising and exposure, other media outlets in surrounding parishes picked up the news. For example, South Louisiana Sports Scene magazine in Gonzales and a radio station in Baton Rouge reached out to the City for interviews and ad buys to further promote AlexRiverFete to their drive markets.

In particular, KALB TV News Channel – the region’s #1 station – was highly instrumental in both building anticipation and promoting the event. In addition to posting about the festival on Facebook and Twitter, the station aired an entire week of fete-related stories.

In the course of 75 days, the festival was featured in approximately 50 different stories from 21 different media outlets across the state. Considering the short time frame for planning and executing the media strategy, this goal exceeded expectations and was key for driving increased attendance.

Segment Anticipated Cost Actual Cost

Coordinator $8,000 $7,577.27

Publicity $18,000 $23,606.49

Site Group $6,500 $7,056.71

Volunteers $1,500 $800

Cultural $7,500 $7,752.43

Kids Fete $4,000 $3,525.13

Entertainment $31,500 $30,554.59

Local BBQ $4,000 $986.9

Fete-Budget

Anticipated = $90,000.00Actual = $81,859.52

5%

39%

5% 9% 2%8%

22%

10%

Anticipated Hard Costs

$90,000.00

1%

37%

4%9% 1%9%

29%

9%

Staff Publicity LogisticsVolunteers Cultural Kids FeteEntertainment Quein

$81,859.52

Actual Hard Costs

Private Sector In-Kind

Fete Coordinator MCB

$3,000

Publicity Fox 48 $1,700

Lamar Advertising $4,600

Kinetix $3,000

Cultural ROSAC $2,000

AMoA $17,000

ACCL $5,000

Kids Fete Kids TREE House $1,500

Entertainment Gotta Groove Prod. $10,000

PPS $1,600

Total: $42,400.00

City of Alexandria In-Kind

Public Safety $20,484.50

Public Works $17,763.74

Total: $38,348.24

0

12500

25000

37500

50000

Private Sector COA

Anticipated Actual

Fete In-Kind Contributions

26%

26%25%

22%

COA In Kind Private In Kind COA Budgeted GAEDA

$38,348.24

$45,000.00

$42,400.00

$170,748.24

$45,000.00

Total Fete-vestmentActual Costs + In-Kind Contributions

Preliminary event budget estimated total event hard costs around $90,000 and anticipated total event costs, including private and public in-kind contributions was around $150,000.00.

The City’s contribution was $45,000: $35,000 budgeted with an additional $10,000 from City Council. GAEDA contributed an additional $45,000 generating a combined budget of $90,000.00. ARF 2013 hard costs came in under budget at $81,859.52.

AlexRiverFete 2013 was a community driven event having unprecedented buy-in from the private sector comprising 25% of total event investment. Combined program income including hard costs and in-kind contributions from both the public and private sectors totaled $170,748.24.

0

2250

4500

6750

9000

Thursday Friday Saturday

Anticipated Actual

Attendees

0 3750 7500 11250 15000

Moderate Projection High Projection Actual Out of Town

Fete Attendance Overview

Fete Attendance by Day

Attendance

This year’s event met projected attendance goals. Overall event attendance was projected between 10,000 and 15,000. Total attendance was around 11,950 people throughout the three-day AlexRiverFete.

THURSDAY:Dinner on the Bricks

550

FRIDAY: Art Walk (Day 1) + Headliners

3,150

SATURDAY: Art Walk (Day 2) + Dragon Boat Races

8,250

TOTAL:

11,950

Costs

Economic Impact

0 150000 300000 450000 600000

Quein 2006 Quein 2007 Quein 2008Quein 2009 Quein 2010 ARF 2013

Impact Comparison

16%

33%

12%

23%

15%

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

QUE’IN ON THE RED showed growth as a festival in each of five (5) outings except for 2008 and 2010, when attendance dropped due to bad weather. QUE’IN’S five-year impact is approximately $4,500,000 according to the Alexandria-Pineville Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (APACVB).

NOTE: QUE’IN 2010 cost $106,175.01 more than ARF 2013 and had $136,430.00 less economic impact than ARF 2013.

$ 4.5 Million

Attendance

0 3000 6000 9000 12000

Quein 2006 Quein 2010ARF 2013

Hotel Rooms

0 37.5 75 112.5 150

Economic Impact

0 125 250 375 500

Total Costs

0 750 1500 2250 3000

Quein 2006 & 2010 vs. AlexRiverFete 2013Comparative Analysis

$281,820

$418,250

8,052

11,950

143

38

$226,482.77

$120,307.76

Until 2011, QUE’IN ON THE RED was Alexandria’s signature festival having a combined local economic impact of over 4.5 million dollars over five years.

AlexRiverFete year one exceeded earlier benchmarks established by QUE’IN 2010. QUE’IN 2010 cost $106,175.01 more than ARF 2013 and had $136,430.00 less economic impact than ARF 2013.

132

7,556

$264,460

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I wish to extend my personal thanks and appreciation for your hard work, dedication, and creative spirit as we launched the first-ever AlexRiverFête. Culture and collaboration are critical to the health of any community, but the fact this new celebration was created, planned, and implemented in just under ten weeks is something which we should all be proud.

At AlexRiverFête, we showcased and defined what is unique about our city: the people, the food, and the FUN. Downtown was abuzz as we gathered with family and friends for delicious dining, live music,

beautiful artwork, and the captivating Louisiana Dragon Boat Races™. With all of these elements combined, we see that gumbo of ingredients making up Central Louisiana coming together as one great “soup” while retaining elements of unique and individual contributions. Who wants a melting pot when you can have gumbo, right?

Community leaders like you help establish and honor Central Louisiana heritage. A festival of this magnitude means a stronger city. It promotes synergy; builds new relationships; fosters new ideas. Most of all, it lays the foundation for a progressive Alexandria – shaping it as the ideal place to live, work, and play.

Thanks, again, for your support and dedication to the City of Alexandria, this beautiful place we call home. I look forward to seeing you next year for AlexRiverFête ’14!

Jacques Roy, MayorCity of Alexandria