Organizing leaders say Cherry Blossom Festival's survival hinges on 2009 profits

A year after bad weather doused attendance at Macon's Cherry Blossom Festival and forced organizers to plow through financial reserves, success this year is critical to the event's future.

This year's festival opens Friday and runs through March 29.

Each festival relies heavily on the financial performance of the ones that precede it, and Lee Robinson, chairman of the festival's board of directors, said efforts to stage a 2010 festival hinge on the profitability of this spring's showing.

That's because last April, the festival concluded one of its bleakest runs in recent memory. Rain soaked key events, driving down participation and forcing the cancellation of the street party, a festival centerpiece that has been one of its premier money-makers.

To make matters worse, festival officials blundered when they decided not to offer refunds to advance ticket holders, which became a public relations fiasco.

Then late last year, further troubles were stoked by some City Council members, who tried unsuccessfully to take away a crucial Cherry Blossom funding stream: hotel/motel tax revenue. Had that measure not died, festival boosters said, it would have destroyed the festival.

Now there is a battered economy to contend with. The recession has bled away sponsorships, forcing some activities to be downsized, and an October auction to benefit the festival was canceled when too few advance tickets were sold to the event.

All this has happened after the 2008 festival lost about $140,000, following a 2007 festival that ended $35,000 in the red. Those losses have depleted the festival's reserves, Robinson said, so festival organizers are relying on a strong showing after the pink ribbon is cut Friday to ensure that the festival survives in its current form.

"We have to have a good festival to carry us through to the next festival," Robinson said. If plans don't work out — though he says he's confident they will — it would require some creative thinking to raise new revenue. Already, officials have floated the idea of hosting some sort of festival in the fall to bring in additional money for 2010 and to help rebuild the festival's reserves.

This year, interim president and CEO Jim Davis will escort "The Pinkest Party on Earth" back to the community stage. He's just three months on the job after taking over from former festival leader Wright Tilley, who resigned late last year to take a job in North Carolina.

But Davis knows enough to pray for sunshine.

"I'm thinking nothing but positive about everything," he said. "The buzz I sense is everybody's excited about having good weather and getting back to the festival as the way they remember, as opposed to having it rained out."

Robinson is equally optimistic.

"It's going to be a fun festival," he said. "Spring is here. ... People are just ready to have fun and celebrate."

With cherry blossoms starting to unfurl, Theresa Simmons, a 46-year-old Twiggs County resident, agreed.

"I just love the beautiful trees, the way they bloom out," she said. "It's pretty."

Along with the fun and cheer, of course, festival organizers hope people will spend money. Total expenditures in the midstate by 2008 festival participants was estimated at $11.4 million by the Middle Georgia Regional Development Center. When officials factor in a tourism economic multiplier, they say the total economic impact of the festival was about $19.1 million.

Assessing the exact financial state of the festival itself is difficult. Davis declined to release detailed information on this year's spending, income and sponsorships.

But the most recent public records that the nonprofit organization filed with the IRS show the degree to which the amount of money made can vary from festival to festival. Rain, cold weather or ill-timed blooms can put a damper on anything, no matter how well events are planned.

At the end of fiscal 2006, $2.74 million in total revenue was reported — $1.6 million of which came from festival events — against $2.72 million in expenses. Total revenue at the end of fiscal 2007 was $1.98 million — $1.2 million of which came from festival events — while expenses were $2.025 million. Those figures represent a mixture of cash and in-kind work.

From 2006 to 2007, the festival's net assets declined from $504,000 to $460,000.

Stacy Campbell, marketing director for the festival, says the 2009 festival has lost fewer than 10 sponsors since last year. Other sponsors have reduced their contributions, but she would not say by how much.

"I don't feel that's necessary to let the public know what those sponsorship dollars are," she said. All that matters, she said, is that the public knows that most of the festival's events are free or open to them at a very low cost because of the sponsorships.

Those sponsorships largely dictate the type and scope of events held. Typically, businesses support a specific event, festival officials said. For example, Miller Lite supports Central City Park activities and Cox Communications and The Medical Center of Central Georgia support the Tunes and Balloons event. If there is less sponsorship assistance available, activities are pared back. If there are more sponsorship dollars, activities are increased.

Robinson said festival organizers made a concerted effort this year to eliminate activities that are at a high risk for a rainout but are low revenue producers, such as the air show. And Davis said he was reviewing more comprehensive event cancellation insurance to guard against financial losses in case weather cancels the Street Party again. The festival could not collect on its policy last year because not enough rain fell during the specified period of time required for a claim to be made.

"I'm trying to use the perspective of the past to plan for the future," Davis said.

Outside of private sponsorships and money generated by the events themselves, the festival receives a large chunk of support from public sources, chiefly city and county hotel/motel tax revenue and in-kind work that the city provides. That helps pay the $342,000 in salary and benefits that festival officials last year told the city was required for seven full-time and six part-time employees to staff the organization.

Those costs have been a sore point for some City Council members.

"Nothing else in this community, for a two-week activity, would be justified for a year-round staff," Councilman Lonnie Miley said.

He suggested the Cherry Blossom Festival could operate similarly to the Pan African Festival, which is run by volunteers.

Councilman James Timley said an efficiency expert needs to take a closer look at the festival's staffing situation, and he suggested that state legislators review the hotel/motel tax revenue the organization receives. Timley said he would be "run out of town on a rail" if he operated an organization whose product was visible for just a few weeks each year.

"The whole thing needs to be analyzed," he said.

Henry Jones, a retired preacher in the Christian Methodist Episcopal church, said he wouldn't consider himself an active participant in the festival. But he said if it means as much to the community as it appears to, the festival ought to be able to rely solely on donations and money the festival generates without requiring help from the city and county.

"I think it ought to be self-sufficient," he said. "I think it ought to support itself."

Mayor Robert Reichert said he's aware of the criticisms, although he said he's not in a position to express an opinion on their validity. Any organization can stand improvement, he said, adding that the critics aren't always well-informed.

And given that the festival has been around since 1982, he figures organizers must be doing something right. If something happened to cause the festival's demise, it would be "terribly missed."

"I just know it takes an awful lot of planning, an awful lot of promotion and an awful lot of execution to carry off a festival of this size," he said.

Tracking festival attendance is somewhat nebulous. Many of the events are free, so there are few tickets or turnstiles to provide a precise count.

The Macon-Bibb Convention & Visitors Bureau keeps tabs on some measurements, such as the total number of motor coaches touring the city during the festival. There were 101 counted in 2005, 155 counted in 2006, 172 in 2007 and 92 last year.

The RDC, which measured the festival's economic impact at the city's request in December, suggests that the number of participants has been declining for nearly 20 years. According to the development center's report, festival-commissioned studies in 1990 and 1997 show the number of participants decreasing from 190,756 to 161,647, with the festival organizers estimating a 2008 attendance of 125,115.

Councilwoman Elaine Lucas said she's had ongoing concerns over the years that the festival doesn't always reach every segment of the community. She maintains that it can improve its reach across age, racial and gender lines, but she thinks festival organizers recognize that challenge and understand events have to be varied to keep the community engaged.

"Over time, any event has to change," she said. "I feel certain that they're working on that, that they know that's something that needs attention."

Festival officials try to tweak the programming each year to keep it fresh, Campbell said. For example, for the first time the festival is branching out to Warner Robins through Party with a Purpose, featuring the Grammy award-winning Christian band Jars of Clay at Southside Baptist Church. And the street party appeals to a more youthful audience.

At the same time, she said, there are important events to have year after year, such as the free cherry ice cream each day in Third Street Park.

"That's how you build tradition," she said. "People are comfortable and know that some things are going to (always) be there."

For city residents such as 38-year-old Eundrea Brown, those traditions are important. The free ice cream and the hot air balloons are among the most memorable parts of the festival for her. But what makes the annual spring event important, she said, is that it brings the community together for a fun and festive time.

"I think it's great for Macon," she said.

_____

On the Net:

http://www.cherryblossom.com/