P’ville Officials Look to Make Music Festival a More Profitable Venture
Pleasantville officials are searching for ways to make the Pleasantville Music Festival more profitable after expenses and revenue for this year’s festival barely broke even.
Village Administrator Patricia Dwyer said the 10th annual festival, which took place on Saturday, July 12, generated just over $104,000 in revenue. To date, expenditures for the event are about $99,000 with two additional bills totaling $3,900 still expected.
Following the update this week, village trustees are weighing options for increasing revenues next year. Mayor Peter Scherer said in the near future he will speak with representatives from the radio station The Peak, which sponsors the event, as well as with music festival organizers about the issue.
One of the biggest challenges the village faces is securing a well-known performer that will attract crowds while it has a finite budget to book talent. Scherer noted that to attract larger crowds, a big name artist is needed, but to secure that big name artist months in advance, the village would need to pay top rate.
Trustee Mindy Berard said many high profile performers are not as attracted to the Pleasantville Music Festival compared to some other events because it is limited by the relatively small size of Parkway Field.
Scherer said finding talent puts the village in a difficult spot because they need to rely on bands who may be in the area at the time of the event and are willing to perform for a reduced rate.
“The real bottom line is we’re in the beggars-can’t-be-choosers category,” he said.
Dwyer said while precise attendance figures are not available since the village does not track walk-up sales, it was estimated that about 2,000 people attended this year’s festival, likely down from several previous years. Factors that influenced attendance, and ultimately revenue, may have been the steeper $50 ticket, the full price for adult admission, and a busy weekend with other music events going on in the region, Dwyer said.
Shane McGaffey, the station manager at PCTV, which films the festival every year, suggested the village could consider focusing on more local talent, utilizing local high school bands to fill slots during the earlier hours of the event, thereby allowing it to allocate more money to secure a big name act to headline the festival.
Trustee Steve Lord suggested that the village should take steps to get the business community more involved. Board members also suggested reaching out to larger sponsors to mitigate the financial risk for the village.
Officials agreed that the festival will likely never be a huge source of revenue for Pleasantville, but noted the importance of generating a profit each year. Scherer said he hoped that future events could clear at least $5,000 to $6,000, some of which could be placed into a fund to prepare for the inevitable year when the festival gets rained out.
“What is the end game for us?” questioned Berard. “It’s a great community thing and it puts Pleasantville on the map, and if that’s what we’re going for then we go for that. If we’re looking to make money, it’s probably not going to happen.”
Martin Wilbur contributed to this article.
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