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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 7.1 St Pat EvaluationCITY CLERK #0950-40 AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: April 18, 2000 SUBJECT: Evaluation of 2000 St. Patrick's Day Festival Report Prepared by Paul McCreary, Recreation Supervisor ATTACHMENTS: None RECOMMENDATION: 1) Provide recommendations on the various components of the celebration for implementation next year 2) Determine dates of 2001 St. Patrick's Day Festival 3) Appoint a representative from the City Council to serve on the St. Patrick's Day Liaison Committee 4) Direct Staff to renew the agreement with Terry Pimsleur & Company for the 2001 St. Patrick's Day Festival. FINANCIAL STATEMENT: None DESCRIPTION: The 17th Annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration was held the weekend of March 18-19, 2000. A summary of the activities that were conducted is shown below. GREEN AND WHITE GALA The Dublin Sister City Association's annual Green and White Gala was held on Friday, March 17, at the Best Western Monarch Hotel in Dublin with over 90 in attendance. The evening began with Irish Happy Hour and was followed by dinner and Irish entertainment. COMMUNITY PANCAKE BREAKFAST The Alameda County Firefighters hosted a pancake breakfast for the community on Saturday, March 18, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 A.M. at Firehouse #16 on Donohue Drive. Over 900 breakfasts were served and the proceeds from the breakfast benefited the Alicia Ann Rouche Burn Foundation. Firefighter Steve Hunter also performed as Sparky the Clown and the firefighters had a variety of items to give away. PARADE The Dublin Lion's Club annual St. Patrick's Day Parade was held on Saturday, March 18, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The Lion's Club reports that there were 86 entries in the parade, which was over 20 more than last year. Included in the entries were three bagpipe bands whose performances were paid for by the City. The parade route was the same as last year, except it ended at Donohue Drive rather than the Albertson's parking lot. Parade entrants assembled on Amador Plaza Road and proceeded south to Dublin Boulevard, east to Village Parkway, north to Amador Valley Boulevard, and west to Donohue Drive. Although COPIES TO: st. Patrick's Day Liaison Committee Terry Pimsleur & Company, Inc. \XDUBLINFS2XPC S\C OUNC IL\418stpats.doc youth groups were encouraged to ride in vehicles as opposed to walking, there were still a large number of groups walking in the parade. The City held its second float building workshop in September, however only five organizations participated this year, two of which were from outside of Dublin. In 1998 the workshop was attended by only three organizations. This year only two of the organizations in attendance built a float for the parade. FESTIVAL The St. Patrick's Day Festival was held on March 18 and 19, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Amador Valley Boulevard in downtown Dublin. In addition to Amador Valley Boulevard, the Shamrock Village Shopping Center parking lot was also used. The parking lot featured food and beverage booths as well as the main stage of entertainment and children's attractions. Art and craft vendors, fine art vendors and commercial vendors lined Amador Valley Boulevard. A breakdown of the vendors is shown below: Artist & Craft Vendors 125 Commercial Vendors 8 Sponsor Booths 14 Food Vendors 13 Children's Attractions 7 Non-Profit Organizations 12 TOTAL VENDORS 179 Local service organizations provided over 400 volunteer hours at the festival and it is estimated that these organizations netted over $2,000 from the festival. It is estimated that there were 50,000 people who attended the festival over the two days. Food and Beverage Four garden cafes were located throughout the festival site. Each caf6 featured several food booths and one beverage booth. Next to each caf6 was a seating area with tables, chairs and umbrellas. A large tent covered the main stage eating area. Three of the cafes also had entertainment. Dublin Police Services reported that there were not any adverse incidents related to alcohol consumption or was there a problem with people attempting to leave the festival with alcohol. Advertising The festival was promoted in several ways. KKIQ, KFRC, KYCY, and Z95.7 were the official radio sponsors for the event. These stations ran commercials prior to the event and were in attendance at the festival on Saturday and Sunday. ANG Newspapers was the official newspaper sponsor for the festival and they produced a color pullout, which was included in their newspapers and also mailed to non-subscribers (total circulation of 53,000 households). In addition, advertisements were also included in the Herald and in the ANG Newspaper's full market the week before the event. Advertising was also placed in the Contra Costa Newspaper system and in Diablo Magazine. Eye catching posters and postcards were also produced and distributed throughout the East Bay. Parking, Traffic and Shuttle Service Wheels ran a shuttle service from the BART station to the comer of Regional Street and Amador Valley Boulevard and the round trip cost was $1.00 per person. According to the Staff at Wheels more tickets were sold for the shuttle this year than in previous years. For those who came by car, most of the parking lots in the general vicinity were used. Following the event, Staff did not receive complaints from any of the merchants or residents adjacent to the festival. SHAMROCK 5K FUN RUN For the second year the City sponsored the Shamrock 5K Fun Run and Walk. The event was held on Sunday, March 19, beginning at 8:30 A.M. This year 857 runners entered the event as compared to 576 last year. Over 300 runners registered onsite this year. Pre and post race activities were held in the Shamrock Village Shopping Center in front of World of Shoes and adjacent to the festival. Based on comments received after last year's race, Staff had the length of the race course certified this year and placed mile markers and split timers on the course. Over 70 volunteers worked at the race either in the registration area, finish line or along the course as intersection monitors. Local service organizations provided 147 volunteer hours for the Fun Run. It is estimated that local non-profit groups netted $1,400 from the event. This includes the stipends earned by the volunteers for the Soroptimists, Job's Daughters, Dublin Senior Center Foundation, Dublin High School Leadership Class, and the Dublin Police Explorer Program. Local elementary schools also won $600 in cash prizes, distributed by the Alameda County Firefighters - Local 55, for the school registration competition. Prizes were distributed based on the number of Fun Run entries received from each elementary school that participated. The City received $8,750 in corporate sponsorships for the Fun Run. The City also received significant support through in-kind donations from local businesses. The Fun Run was heavily advertised in the Tri- Valley area. The City printed 7,500 registration flyers that were distributed to Dublin schools and mailed to a mailing list of 2,000 runners in the Tri-Valley area. KKIQ aired advertisements for the three weeks prior to the race. ANG Newspapers also advertised the event for three weeks prior to the event. Additionally, the race was also publicized in the Runners Schedule and on their website. CONTRACT WITH TERRY PIMSLUER & COMPANY, INC. This was the second year the City contracted with Terry Pimsleur & Company, Inc. for the overall management of the St. Patrick's Day Festival. The City's agreement with Terry Pimsluer is a five-year agreement that can be renewed annually by Staff through the 2003 festival. However, if the contractor proposes an increase in their management fee, then a new agreement would need to be approved by the Council. If it is the desire of the Council to continue using Terry Pimsleur & Company for the St. Patrick's Day Festival, then Staff will renew the agreement for the 2001 festival. DATE AND LOCATION OF 2001 CELEBRATION St. Patrick's Day will be on a Saturday in the year 2001. Traditionally the City has held the Celebration the weekend of, or the weekend prior to St. Patrick's Day. Staff would recommend that the event be held the weekend of St. Patrick's Day, which would be March 17-18, 2001. CONCLUSION Based on the positive comments received from people who attended and participated in all aspects of the St. Patrick's Day Celebration, Staff would declare the 2000 celebration a success. However, as with all events of this magnitude, there is always room for improvement. Consequently, Staff would recommend that the City Council review the various components of the celebration and provide recommendations for implementation in next year's celebration. Additionally, it is recommended that the City Council: 1) determine the dates of the 2001 celebration; 2) appoint a representative(s) to serve on the St. Patrick's Day Liaison Committee; and 3) direct Staff to renew the agreement with Terry Pimsleur & Company for the 2001 St. Patrick's Day Festival.