Cathedral City Page 1 of 4 Printed on 4/21/2022
Staff Report
City Council
Item No. 9.C
Meeting Date: April 27, 2022
From: Chris Parman, Communicaions and Events Manager
Title: Contract for Services - SoundSkilz and Fantasy Balloon Flights
City Council
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve two-year contract extensions with Fantasy Balloon Flights to produce the 2023 and 2024 Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival and Food Truck Fiesta, with SoundSkilz, Inc., to produce the 2023 and 2024 Taste of Jalisco Festival and Cathedral City LGBT Days.
BACKGROUND:
For the past four years, the City has contracted with third parties to produce and manage our signature events under the direction of the Communications / Events Manager. Reasons behind this decision are due to the growth of the events over time, their con tinued growth is too large for one person to manage, and it allows the Communication / Events Manager to more evenly divide the duties of running the special events with the need to relay city information to the media and our residents.
Fantasy Balloon Flights has been a co-producer, and most recently, the producer of the Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival and Food Truck Fiesta since it started in 2015.
This family-centered event has garnered the most attendance of any of our City events and during t hese past few years has become the City’s best event for drawing record number of visitors from outside of the Coachella Valley, filling our hotels. Since taking over the hot air balloon festival, the event has grown in attendance and activities with new features like the Food Truck Fiesta, the Banana Balloon Candy Drop for Kids, improvements to the music on the main stage, the addition of special shaped balloons, and enhanced partnerships with major sponsors including Agua Caliente Casinos who manufactured their own branded hot air balloon. In 2021, the festival added a Friday night entertainment event and Food Truck Fiesta at the new amphitheater attracting a sizeable crowd as well as a sold -out crowd at the annual mini -glow and dinner at the Westin Miss ion Hills Golf Resort and Spa. Fantasy Balloon Flights are based in the Coachella Valley and Steve Wilkinson is a multiple national and international award - winning hot air balloon pilot. The 2021 event received extensive local media attention, and for the first time, coverage by KABC Channel 7 in Los Angeles.
Cathedral City Page 2 of 4 Printed on 4/21/2022
SoundSkilz, Inc. became the producer of both the Taste of Jalisco Festival and LGBT Days for 2022. Soundskilz has more than 20 years of experience running large and small, indoor and outdoor event s. They currently produce and/or manage the San Bernardino County Fair, Boots in the Park concerts, WellHaus (cannabis festival), City of Huntington Beach 4th of July Festival, and produced over 1,000 talent -driven global events in music, film, sports, cu linary, fashion, art, eSports/gaming, and much more.
They have produced concerts for U2, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas, Lenny Kravitz, Rush, and One Republic. Additionally, they have produced the Cuervo Nation Festival founded by Jose Cuervo Tequila – a 5 -day multi -island festival in the British Virgin Islands. Executive Producer Ryan Heil has been the agency of record for both Don Julio and Cuervo Tequila brands. Stephen Clayton, president of Soundskilz, has been an Event Educator at University of California Riverside.
The 2022 Taste of Jalisco Festival had a record crowd estimated at 12,000+ attendees.
Visitors enjoyed carnival rides, a community stage, Mexican -inspired food vendors, merchandise vendors, a low -rider car show, and a headline performanc e on Saturday night at the amphitheater entitled, Mexico Lindo, featuring Ballet Folklorico de Los Angeles (BFLA) and Mariachi Garibaldi de Jaime Cuéllar. The event received extensive local media coverage both on television and radio and received new spon sorships including Agua Caliente Casinos.
The 2022 Cathedral City LGBT Days enjoyed a slightly better attendance than the 2019 event estimated at 5,000+ attendees. Visitors enjoyed an opening night kick -off in front of the Civic Center along with a Fr iday night bar crawl at the six LGBT focused night clubs and a performance by Del Shores at the CV Rep. They also enjoyed weekend pool parties and a headline concert hosted by Lance Bass at the new amphitheater which honored the Old Gays, social media inf luencers and residents of Cathedral City, and pre -party hosted by the infamous The Abbey of West Hollywood. On Sunday, thousands came to downtown to watch the Cathedral City LGBT Days Bed Race and Parade as well as enjoying a Sunday Brunch and music by The Dreamboats Band. The event received extensive local, regional and national attention including for the first time, extensive coverage by Channel Q in Los Angeles. LGBT Days had several new sponsors including Andrew Christian, The Abbey West Hollywood, and Agua Caliente Casinos.
DISCUSSION:
The Cathedral City Hot Balloon Festival and Food Truck Fiesta is seeking a two -year contract extension with dates planned for November 16-18, 2023, and November 15-17, 2024. The contract keeps the same conditions as previous years but offers a 5% increase in funding to offset inflation for each year.
SoundSkilz produced the 2022 Taste of Jalisco Festival and Cathedral City LGBT Days at a much higher production level than any other time before. Their army of worker s come in and takeover a blank space and transform it into a wonderful oasis to be enjoyed by all. As much as their first year of producing these events went well, there are issues that need to be addressed for 2023 and 2024; they include the dates of the event and support by the city.
First, Soundskilz is proposing to move Taste of Jalisco to one weekend earlier being
Cathedral City Page 3 of 4 Printed on 4/21/2022
February 3-5, 2023, and February 1-3, 2024. The reason behind their suggestion is that the second weekend in February competes against Su per Bowl Sunday. Taste of Jalisco had a good crowd Friday night and an excellent crowd Saturday night, but Sunday was horrible due to being Super Bowl Sunday.
SoundSkilz is also seeking to move Cathedral City LGBT Days to the first weekend in March due t o wanting to produce more daytime activities. Currently with the event being in late March, the temperatures are typically in the upper 80s or 90s and daylight savings makes the time when the sun goes behind the mountains much later. They also want to pr event any other city from starting their Pride event before Cathedral City so they can still market it as the first Pride event of the year in California.
Second, SoundSkilz is seeking additional financial support from the City in order to afford to bring in better entertainment to both events. In 2022, the City supported both events at $55,000 each. They are seeking an increase to $75,000 each for 2023 and a 5% increase for each year thereafter to offset inflation costs. They state that the only way they can effectively increase the crowd size from outside of the Coachella Valley and filling up our hotels and supporting local businesses is to bring in better entertainers. It is especially important for LGBT Days due to the need to produce entertainment acts that appeal to an older demographic living in the Coachella Valley while also providing entertainment that appeals to a younger demographic from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. In comparison, the City of Palm Springs provides $125,000 of in-kind support for Palm Springs Pride.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The fiscal impact for the Cathedral City Hot Air Balloon Festival and Food Truck Fiesta is simply a 5% increase year over year to offset rising production costs. This has been planned in the bie nnial budget. However, increasing the City support for 2023 Taste of Jalisco and 2023 Cathedral City LGBT Days by $20,000 each for a total of $40,000 will cause the City to make certain decisions as to how they will be paid during the current budget. If council agrees that there is a need to increase support, then it can be handled in two potential ways:
The first option for the City could be to forego the 2022 Snow Fest event budgeted at $39,500 and simply conduct a holiday tree lighting without the North Pole Village set-up.
The North Pole Village now costs about $20,000 to set -up and dismantle the 20 painted store fronts. In 2021, only a handful of the store fronts received sponsorship to offset the costs. It may have been a fluke due to COVID -19 pan demic or a number of other factors, but it did not pay for itself. By moving Snow Fest funds to Taste of Jalisco and LGBT Days, this would not require a budget amendment and the city could focus on the three main signature events.
The second option is to maintain Snow Fest and vote on a budget amendment in the amount of $40,000 to offset the increase costs of producing Taste of Jalisco and Cathedral City LGBT Days.
ATTACHMENTS:
Balloon Festival Contract for Services - 2023 and 2024 - DRAFT 3
Cathedral City Page 4 of 4 Printed on 4/21/2022
Contract - DRAFT - Soundskilz - LGBT Days 2023 and 2024 v.2