They said Wild West Music Fest is coming back. Where is it?

When Mayor Nancy Smith announced the return of the Wild West Music Fest during her State of the City address in January, the event was portrayed as a foregone conclusion.

It’s in the city budget. New financing mechanisms have been introduced, requiring very little taxpayer money compared to last year. All systems are working, right?

Not quite.

Wild West Music Fest momentum has stalled. As of late August, there was no announcement about when this year’s event would take place, and a contract with promoter Steve Levine Entertainment had not been signed.

Last year the event took place on October 13-15.

From the outset, elected officials were nearly unanimous in their support of the initiative and vocal (and that’s an understatement) in their willingness to make the festival an annual tradition along the lines of Country Thunder in Florence.

The idea has been brought up at Maricopa City Council meetings and was the subject of an InMaricopa City Council debate on July 11, at which Councilman Bob Marsh spoke with enthusiasm.

“I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it,” Marsh said. “I think an event like this will put Maricopa on the map as it grows. I think the Wild West Music Fest is a worthwhile event, and I hope we can find a way to make it profitable next year.”

With such support, what is the reason for the delay?

In an extensive interview given on August 6 InMaricopaQuinn Konold, Maricopa’s director of community enrichment, said nearly every aspect of the Wild West Music Fest is being reconsidered, from its timing, its duration and even whether it should happen at all.

Hold your horses, partner

The city and SLE are investigating the viability of hosting the festival as part of ongoing negotiations to reinstate it.

“We were hoping (negotiations) would be faster this year, but I don’t want to speak for them,” Konold said of the promoter. “You have to ask them, but I think they’re looking at the big picture, ‘What’s this worth to us?’”

SLE CEO Steve Levine said InMaricopa On August 16, he was “very excited to be returning to the city of Maricopa to once again host the Wild West Music Festival.”

“Last year’s event was a great start, and we want to build on that momentum in year two,” Levine said, careful not to answer whether year two would be this year or any other.

The city budgeted $370,000 for last year’s $1 million festival, but in the final tally, the event turned out to be a loss of $250,000.

“They covered the loss,” Konold said of SLE. “Usually, a promoter just wants a flat fee and a percentage (of revenue). When we put out a request for proposals, SLE was the only group that was willing to put their skin in it.”

This year, the city’s contribution is nearly 30% less than last year’s, at $265,000. After poor attendance on the third day of last year’s event, which led to the city giving away free tickets, there were talks of scaling back the next festival to two days.

Another concern is that $240,000 of the funding will come from a bed tax, collected from people who stay at Maricopa’s only hotel, the La Quinta Inn at Copper Sky. This year, the bed tax is expected to generate more than $250,000.

Konold said the new solution would relieve the burden on city taxpayers.

“I am glad that the bed tax has been introduced. I think it will ease this unpleasant situation a bit,” said Konold.

Last year, all of the $370,000 came from property and sales taxes. This year, those taxes would bring in only $25,000.

The city’s 2024-25 budget, ratified in June, includes $265,000 for the Wild West Music Fest.

Although last year’s festival took place on the second weekend of October, it is unclear whether future events will continue with the same format.

The city also announced a concert series in the park last month that includes two events on different weekends in October and November, meaning the Wild West Music Fest likely won’t take place during that time.

“We are considering a range of dates,” Konold said, acknowledging that future festivals are not tied to the city’s founding anniversary, as was the case last fall.

“For many reasons, last year’s event had to be held at this time, in October,” Konold said. “It was a birthday party, and you do birthday parties as close to the birthday as you can.”

Konold said that as negotiations continue, the city’s biggest concern is the quality of performances.

“Our goal at SLE is to provide a high level of musical talent,” Konold said. “If they come up with something else that interests us, we can talk.”

Taking a look once more

Last year, the Wild West Music Fest lived up to the “wild” part of its name. The “western” part, not so much, with hip-hop stars who made people say, “Oh, is that guy still here?” like Young MC, Flo Rida and Nelly, who went to prison on drug and other charges after a performance in Maricopa.

Konold pointed to the city’s lack of experience in attracting talented workers, as well as the constraints of having to do everything at the last minute.

After contract negotiations that lasted until July 10 last year, marketing for the event, which was to open on October 13, didn’t begin until July 26. That left just 78 days to advertise a three-day music festival that didn’t exist before.

Johnny Carboy, marketing manager for TSE Entertainment, an event promotion company based in Austin, Texas, said timing is key, especially when trying to promote a multi-day festival in its first year.

“Personally, I would prefer a festival that lasts a few days to last six to nine months,” Carboy said.

He argues that for event organizers, rushing is doomed to failure.

Boston, Mass.-based Gupta Media oversaw marketing efforts for Governor’s Ball 2022, a music festival in Queens, N.Y., that drew more than 150,000 attendees. It recently released a document showing that the average ticket sales cycle for its festivals is 163 days.

Konold admitted that last year’s event was a tough ride to the finish line, but said the city could not afford to meet the industry’s goals.

“The extra time means you may have to spend more money on marketing,” he said. “That can put a dent in the budget for the entire event.”

Konold also mentioned burnout, pointing to SLE’s flagship event, the Chandler Ostrich Festival.
“People know it’s going to happen, but they don’t announce the artists until a month and a half before the event to avoid fatigue,” he said.

“They don’t want people to get tired of watching shows and seeing everything all the time. “They want them to be excited about the event that’s coming around the corner.”

Does profitability matter?

In the world of music festivals, there is no such thing as easy money.

One of the highest profit margins at a festival is Coachella, which is 38%. The festival lasts a week and features some of the most recognizable musical talent you’ll find anywhere.

Most smaller festivals have a profit margin of 5% to 10%, according to a new report, Music Festival Economics, by Robert M. Brecht, managing partner at TSE Entertainment in Austin.

“It usually takes years for a festival to become successful,” Konold said. “SLE promotes Ostrich Fest and has been doing it for 30 years. They told us it was only profitable for the last seven to 10 years. It took years for people to notice.”

This begs the question: Is profitability a measure of success?

Mayor Smith said at the April city council meeting that the city government’s job is to provide service and profit has nothing to do with reality.

“We have community events, tourist events and corporate events,” Smith said. “We have a budget for each of those, and we have a budget for public safety. We have a budget for dog parks, and we have a budget for our recreational fields. We have a budget for everything. So should we call one thing a waste of money and not the rest?”

City Manager Ben Bitter agreed.

“I think when you look at our budget, everything we do is provide a service, whether it’s providing a road or providing an event,” he said. “All of those things are types of services. But both the road and the event also provide an opportunity for economic growth because we see ourselves as a conduit for the development of our own community and the quality of life in the community.”

Konold said it all comes down to managing expectations.

“In the first year, everyone knows we probably won’t see a profit,” Konold said. “Everyone has to accept that fact.”

Building a brand

The first year of Wild West Music Fest had a lot of unknowns to consider, like attendance, safety, and hygiene. These things may seem cliché, but if you attend an event that lacks them, it’s unlikely you’ll ever return.

Konold compared the first Wild West Music Fest to opening a new restaurant, noting that the experiences of attendees at that first festival will impact his brand in the long run.

“You have to make sure you do it right the first time,” Konold said. “It’s like trying a restaurant for the first time. Will you come back if it’s all a mess? No, you’ll remember how disgusting it was and never come back.”

With these thoughts in mind, Konold said the most important thing was experience.

“We put a lot of pressure on SLE and told them it had to be safe and the traffic had to be on point,” Konold said. “It had to be clean. We didn’t want the neighborhoods to be full of garbage.”

“They spent more money than necessary,” Konold admitted.

Area for improvement

City leaders now have an idea of ​​what to expect. Whether it was successful or problematic, it was all a learning experience, Konold said.

“We now have a starting point,” Konold said. “We know we can reduce the number of parking spaces a little bit. We have a better understanding of what we’re going to need. We can reduce security and still be within the parameters of a safe event.”

Each subsequent year will provide the city with new sets of data.

“And that’s what we want,” Konold said. “We’re going to take time every year and evaluate what we could do better from a financial and operational standpoint. We want to see some pattern of progress.”

Despite the positions of mayor and city manager, Konold said, “We want our revenues to cover our expenses. We’ll look at that every year. And if there comes a point where we realize this isn’t penciling in, we won’t do it. We’ll try other things.”

He said the goal is to improve every year. The question is, when do you start?