Park Use and Special Event Permit Policy and Application 201 West Sierra Avenue, Cotati CA 94931 (707) 792-4600
Name of Applicant or Organization: COTATi ACCORDION FESTIVAL Name of Contact: SCOTT GOREE Tax ID # (if Non-Profit):
Address: 29 MISSIONOR PETALURA 94952
City State Zip Code
Phone Number: 707 479-5481 _Email Address: SCOTTGOREE23DGMAIL.COM 8/15/2026
* Date of Event: B/167 Arrival/Completion Time: 9:0044 To RoD EStimated Attendees: 4500 2026
Type of Special Event: ACCORDION FESTIVAL
** PARK REQUESTED:
V La Plaza Park _Kotate Park Sunflower Park
Draper Park Falletti Park Santero Park
Putnam Park Veterans Park Civic Center (Cator) Park
Alcoholic Beverages Sold: Yes / No Sold V
Food served: No Yes V
Alcohol not permitted in parks without City Council approval & an ABC license Street Closure Requested: Yes V No Park Closure Requested: Yes No — Animals:_ NO Eletricity Needed
Yes v No —
(La Plaza Park Only):
Inflatable Jump House: _ No L Film Production: (if yes, see pg. 10)Yes _ No V *PARK TO BE RESERVED FOR 8114/ 2028118/1512026; 8/4/ 2026 injury, cost or any expense that may arise during or be caused in any way by use or occupancy of any area or facility of the City of Cotati. I further agree that in consideration of being permitted to use said facility, I will hold the City of Cotati, its officials and employees free and understand that applications not submitted thirty (30) days prior to event may not be able to be processed.
Applicant Signature: Am 8/28/2025
Date:
Date of Application: Date Insurance Received:
Additional Comments/Conditions:
Park Use Fee: Deposit Received:
Sit F-0-35002-00000 Deposit Returned:
101-00-60702-000000
Street Closure Fee: Restroom Cleaning Fee:
101-23-64022-000000 101-24-80188-CLEANS
Group Classification: Cotati Resident Non - Resident ABC License Received 9 Dates: August 16 8 I7 2025
«COIAT® Website: Cotatifest.com
Email: [email protected]
ACCORDION FESTIVAL Hotline/Texts: 707 664 0444
Advertising/Booths: [email protected]
29 Mission Drive Petaluma, CA 94952
Attn: City of Cotati,
The Cotati Accordion Festival would like to return to Cotati for our event in La Plaza Park. The festival would take place on August 15 and 16, 2026.
We would propose to contract with the city of Cotati on the same terms as in 2025. The city's approximate costs were $6,000.00 in 2025 and we paid approximately half of that by applying under the nonprofit waiver.
After sitting in on the last city council meeting which was on zoom, I know there are some issues to address.
I listened as it was mentioned that we seemingly had ignored the city's request to give a special discount to local residents so as to have their cost be lower than that of the surrounding cities. We did not ignore the request. I did talk to my attorney who said it would open me up for lawsuits as he told me that it is illegal to do what the city asked of me. My lawyer says that is all covered in the Robinson-Patman Act.
Another issue that was mentioned is that the average cost per Cotati tax payer is $1.50 per person in the costs that the city has to bear with the nonprofit discount. I thought that maybe there could be some backdoor refund that would work but I decided it was too risky without more legal advice on the matter.
I understand that there is an issue that the bulk of our donations go to Rohnert Park as opposed to Cotati proper. $5,000.00 will be going to Thomas Page again this year. $5,000.00 will be going to the Nursery Co-op a couple of blocks from city hall. $5,000.00 will be going to the music program at Rancho Cotate (there are Cotati residents in the music program per Dustin Friel, the head of the music department).
I realize that there are more students that go to Rancho Cotate from Rohnert Park as compared to Cotati residents. However, in our charter we are required "to donate to local school music programs". We are the music program at Thomas Page Academy. Plus, the only way we can donate to a music program, and Cotati high school age students at the same time, is to donate to the Rancho Cotate music program.
This brings us to the Cotati/Rohnert Park Education Foundation. I know that this organization is weighted towards Rohnert Park youth and controlled mostly by Rohnert Park residents. However, I do know that the organization has helped fund programs at Thomas Page Academy.
What I need to stress with the issue of the Ed Foundation, is that they have been the vetted money handlers for the festival for three decades. They have volunteered every year to handle all the cash at the gates and beer tent for three decades. This is too serious a collaboration to dissolve at this point in our historical existence
The fact that the Ed Foundation has a roster of volunteers at the festival every year does not mean that they then get paid. Every year the organizations are informed that they are volunteers; we only donate if we have the proceeds to do so; and as a volunteer organization they are not assured to be the group donated to.
At the same time, it does help sustain the festival by donating to the nonprofit groups that help keep the festival alive.
The bottom line is that there are several variables that come into play when deciding on who we donate to.
The system has evolved over the years to make sure that we do donate to local school music programs; that
NON-PROFIT BENEFITING LOCAL YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS
Scott Goree, Executive Director | Linda Conner, Richard Cullinen, Lisa Benz, Dave Wasson, Ed Gilardi: Board Members CARL'S
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Website: Cotatifest.com
Email: [email protected]
ACCORDION FESTIVAL Hotline/Texts: 707 664 0444
Advertising/Booths: [email protected]
29 Mission Drive Petaluma, CA 94952
we do work with vetted groups of local business people when we decide who should handle the money; and that we try to get as much of the funding directed to Cotati youth as possible under the present constraints.
I should also mention at this time that the festival has about 250 volunteers, local citizens, who put in about 750 hours to make this community event happen for the community. I should also mention that we have donated close to $700,000.00 to local nonprofit youth groups over the last 34 years.
I also understand that the city council has a plan for the CAF to apply for a grant as opposed to the nonprofit waiver. I understand that we would then have to submit a budget for review and approval. We view this as unnecessary. I have made up the budget for 20 years. I have to make significant changes to the budget every year. Most changes are due to my understanding of the festival's financial history and my projections of costs in the future.
Because some sponsors reduced their donations this year, citing the perils of the economy, and a couple of sponsors that pledged and simply have decided not to contribute, we started out with about $8,000.00 less this year going into production. Because I saw the signs of that happening I had to hold off on booking some of the higher priced bands this year.
Paying quality acts has become a challenge as expenses soar post-covid. For instance, our lineup tends to cost us about $26,000.00 to $28,000.00. This year I had to reduce the band budget by $5,000.00 because of the trying economic times.
Furthermore, our business plan is not a viable business plan without my recruitment of cash donations and in kind donations. My workings with the 30+ sponsors, and my ability to add new ones, is a variable that would not make a lot of sense to an auditor seeing our business plan for the first time. Plus, our ticket price is way too low when analyzing the expenses. Once again, we strive to keep the gate price low. The cash donations are essentially what makes a low ticket price allowable, not to mention the help of the waiver from the city of Cotati.
For the above reasons, we will not be applying for a grant under the restrictions that were described at the last city council meeting. Instead we would like to apply under the same guidelines with a nonprofit waiver as last year.
The next issue that was discussed at the council meeting is the approximately $8,000.00 in additional costs to the city that was determined in the year following covid. A few years back this was shelved for future discussion. I would ask that the cost be waived again, as the expense would change the festival's budget and would necessitate another price hike at the gate, which we absolutely want to avoid The CAF would be interested as to why our event could cost so much more that the other events like Kids Day and the Cotati Music Festival. We realize that a chunk of it is street closure, but a cost of $14,000.00 does have our board asking why?
Last of all, by listening to the city council discussion of their issues with the Cotati Accordion Festival, I was able to see how different our perspective can be. Where we look at our production of the festival as a service to the community and to the world of music, the city council seems to look at the cost to city hall. Where Sonoma County Tourism tells me that they have a formula to show me how much money our event injects into the local economy, the city of Cotati sees problems with where the donations are going, price breaks for locals,
NON-PROFIT BENEFITING LOCAL YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS
Scott Goree, Executive Director | Linda Conner, Richard Cullinen, Lisa Benz, Dave Wasson, Ed Gilardi: Board Members CARL'S
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COALID Website: Cotatifest.com
Email: [email protected]
ACCORDION FESTIVAL Hotline/Texts: 707 664 0444
Advertising/Booths: [email protected]
29 Mission Drive Petaluma, CA 94952
and the event's prospective budget. Yet, we know that 50% of our clientele travel to our event in Cotati from outside the county. We know that many stay in the area for a projected period of time.
The financial impact described by Sonoma County Tourism is admittedly weighted to Rohnert Park because of their abundance of hotels which cater to, literally, hundreds of our clientele. However, our clientele does not limit their spending to just the festival and the hotels/motels of Rohnert Park. Many of our customers dine locally, go grocery shopping locally, get coffee locally, etc. Anecdotally, many of our clients tell us they return to Cotati just to visit the area again because their experience was so positive while they were at the festival.
The festival has been in existence for 34 years. I have produced it for 20 of those years. I have seen a lot of changes over the years at city hall. It might surprise the council to know that the city waived all charges from 1991 through 2007. We all know about the economic struggles of 2008, so it's no surprise that the city was not able to absorb the costs that year. However, at the time it was declared a temporary adjustment and that tradition would be re-established when the economy got its footing back. The waiving of all charges obviously never happened again. By the time the economy was on an upswing the members of the council had changed and there was no link to the past understanding that the event's positive contributions outweighed the city's costs.
We are hoping that the city of Cotati agrees to the same terms as in 2025 and that the city's historic relationship with the festival stays intact.
All that being said, we would like to return to Cotati in 2026 and we would like a 5 year contract so we can budget for our event into the future. We hope this application can go before the city council as soon as possible.
Thank you, Scott Goree.
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Ashley Wilson
From: Scott Goree <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, October 3, 2025 5:48 PM
To: Ashley Wilson
Subject: cotati accordion festival
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Attn: Cotati City Council;
In regards to the five year contract request in our application for Park Use, I would like, for expediency sake, forgo that request at this time.
thank you,
Scott Goree
Executive Director | Cotati Accordion Festival
707 479 5481
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Ashley Wilson
From: Scott Goree (via Google Docs) <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2025 3:08 PM
To: Ashley Wilson
Subject: Draft 9.23.25 letter to City of Cotati.docx
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Scott Goree attached a document
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cotati accordion festival
W Draft 9.23.25 letter to City of Cotati.docx
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Snapshot of the item below:
Dear City Council,
I'd like to take some time to describe the Cotati Accordion Festival (CAF) calendar more fully than many at the City of Cotati may be aware of. The Cotati Accordion Festival is not just two days in August each year. It is a year-round project that affects many people in an ongoing manner.
The CAF takes part in five parades in five towns from April to August, unofficial "ambassadors" for the city in our 52' Chevy convertible with accordion players performing up on the back seat.
In each town we are met with cheers, waves, and a lot of clapping.
The picture of the CAF entry in the 2024 Penngrove Parade was used as the feature photo in three different articles about Sonoma County towns this past year. The articles appeared in online stories in the Press Democrat, Argus Courier, and Play Petaluma.
All year long we have young accordionists able to take lessons because of yearly scholarships we awarded from competitions held at the Church of the Oaks this past August.
September, nearly a year before the festival, is when we start our annual campaign to raise donation funds to put in place our recruitment of top international players. The visa process for these performers alone can take a month to a year.
In November the CAF will have a team at the Northern California Special Olympics Polar Plunge at Lake Tahoe.
In November and December, we will be doing four giant check donation presentations at four different locales.
In October 2026 the CAF and Cotati Chamber of Commerce are planning a joint production of the annual Oktoberfest in La Plaza Park.
Due to logistics, timelines and event participation, the CAF is indeed a year-round project. We would like to reach out to the City of Cotati to see what Cotati specific projects we can be part of. We would also like to assist other Cotati nonprofits that need partnership. The CAF strives to be more of what makes the Cotati community special.
Best regards,
Scott Goree
Executive director, C.A.F., Inc.
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