Tourism Development Commission - August 19, 2025

I'd like to welcome you to the Tourism
Development Commission regular meeting,
Tuesday, August 19th, 9:00 a.m. We're
ready to get started. If we could get a
roll call, please.
Chairperson Mineer,
present.
Vice Chair Montgomery,
present.
Commissioner Kleberg,
present. and Commissioner Shanovich.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We have a
quorum.
Thank you very much. Moving on, we'll
get approval for minutes. Do I have any
questions or additions, changes to the
minutes from the last meeting?
No. I move to approve the minutes.
Thank you. Can I get a second?
Second.
All those in favor with an I.
I. Thank you. Moving right along to
agenda item number three, Longwoods 2024
Travel USA and return to sample reports.
Presentation, commission discussion, and
possible recommendation regarding the
2024 Longwoods International Travel USA
and return to sample reports. Presenter
is Kelsey Wait of Longwoods
International. Welcome.
Hi, good morning. Thank you all for
having me. Um, so just a little bit
about Longwoods and the work that we do
with the city of Scottsdale. Um, so
Longwoods is a market research company.
So we do a lot of survey work. Um, we've
been in the business since 1978 and we
have headquarters in Columbus, Ohio and
Toronto, Ontario, but I am from
Indianapolis. Um, but we really turned
our focus to tourism in 1985 and we work
with 175 destinations, cities,
governments, and brands across North
America. So the return to sample and the
travel USA research that we're talking
about today, um we're really going to
focus on the 2024 data and from the
overnight. We do actually survey about
day trips as well, but 10 minutes is a
short time to talk about everything. Um
but the Travel USA program um started in
1990. We survey 250,000
domestic trips annually. Um, and of
those 250,000, 940 were overnight trips
taken to Scottsdale specifically. Uh,
and when I say anything overnight, that
means it's a trip that was taken that's
not part of someone's everyday routine.
So, it can't just be, well, they're from
Phoenix and they come to Scottsdale to
go to Costco and then go back home.
Like, no, that's not it. It has to be a
trip for leisure um or business.
So, talking about 2024 specifically,
there were 10 million trips taken to
Scottsdale. Um, and this is up 2.4% from
2023. And of that 10 million trips, 51%
were day trips and 49% were overnight
trips. So, pretty even mix there. But
when we look at visitor spending, it is
not quite as an even mix, right? So,
there was $2 billion in visitor spending
spent just here in Scottsdale. So, not
including their plane rides or anything
like that. This is money being spent
within the city. Uh, and when we're
looking at that orange number, that's
going to be the overnight spend. So, our
overnight visitors are spending 80% of
that $2 billion. Um, so it's really an
important subset of your visitation to
focus on. Uh, and when we're looking at
per person per trip spend, um, it's only
$76 per person per trip for day. That's
still great, right? That's $76 per
person that you wouldn't be getting
otherwise. Um, but that's compared to
320
when it comes to those overnight
visitors.
We ask in the survey, why did you come
to Scottsdale? You can come and do like
a hundred different things. Scottsdale
has a plethora of activities, but
there's one main driver, one main reason
why someone chose Scottsdale as their
destination. Uh, and 12% said that was
for business. 52% said it was for some
type of marketable leisure trip. Um, and
then 35% said it was to visit friends
and relatives. This 35% is actually
lower than what we see for Arizona in
the US norm. But when we think about it,
visitors that come to visit friends and
relatives probably spend a little bit
less than those who are going to do a
special event or a bunch of other
things. So being a little bit lower than
the Arizona average here is not a bad
thing at all. And when we break out
those main purpose of trip into
individual categories, we see that below
visiting friends and relatives is
actually touring or what we call road
trips. Um and that's at 13% followed by
outdoors and special events at 9% each.
And then the fifth one in the top five
would be a city trip.
When we talk about what did they do
before they came to Scottsdale, we have
that 46% spent two months or less
planning their overnight trip. So this
is really on par with the US norm. But
what I like to look at is at the very
bottom on the left hand side, only 8%
said that they did not plan anything in
advance. That means that over nine and
ten of your overnight visitors were
looking at marketing at websites um
looking for inspiration, looking for
things to do um that they haven't
experienced before in Scottsdale. And
when we look on the right hand side, 27%
of people actually visited the
experience Scottsdale website for
planning before or during their trip.
We also ask when you came to Scottsdale,
how many people did you come with? Um,
so the average travel party size for an
overnight trip was 2.9 people. So about
twice as many adults as children. Not a
surprise, right? Um, and then we had 22%
of people that said that they traveled
to Scottsdale alone. But again, 35% came
to visit friends and relatives. So we're
not saying that a quarter of people came
to visit alone, um, but they probably
just came to visit someone who already
lives here. And of that 80% who did
visit with someone, the vast majority
visited with a spouse or partner at 66%.
Which is actually higher than what we
see for the US norm. So a lot more
couples here.
When we think about where did people
come from to visit Scottsdale, 20% um
are going to be instate visitors.
That means 80% are out of state. Out of
state visitors tend to spend more, stay
longer. So, it's really great news to
have this mix. Um, and so when we're
talking about outofstate visitors,
number one is going to be your neighbor,
California, um, at 19%. So, almost equal
there between Arizona and California
residents visiting Scottsdale. Uh, and
then we've got New York, Texas, and
Colorado.
When we're talking about transportation,
again, 80% of people don't live here, so
they had to get here somehow. and 55%
actually flew into the Phoenix Sky
Harbor International Airport. And then
one thing that we find out because of
that return to sample survey that we do
is the Phoenix Sky Harbor International
itself. Um where in our regular survey
it would just be they came to an
airport. But with that return to sample,
we're able to get a little bit more
granular into where did they actually
fly into. And then on the right hand
side we see that the ease of traveling
to or from um PHX to Scottsdale. We see
that 40% said it was very easy to get to
Scottsdale from the airport, but this is
actually eight points lower than we saw
in 2023. So people were struggling a
little bit in terms of traffic or just
getting directions um to get from the
airport to Scottsdale.
When we ask people, okay, I know you
took an overnight trip and I know it
included Scottsdale, but you're saying
that your trip was four days, but we
know that you spent three days in
Scottsdale. That means that 85% of
people said Scottsdale was their primary
destination on the trip. So again, we're
talking about 15% of people doing road
trips, um 80% of people being from out
of state. It only makes sense that they
have to stop somewhere to get to
Scottsdale, right? it's not going to be
the only place they go on their trip,
but it is the main driver for their
overnight trip. So, I think that's
really impressive and really speaks to
the variety of things to do um in
Scottsdale. And when we look on the
right hand side, we're seeing that um
those who stayed one night was 33%.
Those who stayed two nights were 28% and
then the remainder would be three nights
or more. One thing that I am really
proud of you guys for is that two nights
bucket really increased year-over-year.
So, anything that you guys were putting
out there that's, hey, we have so many
activities, we have so many events, stay
one more night. That really, really paid
off um in 2024.
Speaking of staying overnight, where did
people stay? So, 15% stayed at homes of
friends and relatives. Again, 35% came
to visit them, but they're not staying
at their house, right? I don't want to
stay at my grandma's house. I want to
stay at a nice hotel here in Scottsdale.
So, people are still spending money on
accommodations even if they're here to
visit friends and relatives. In the
middle is going to be those traditional
paid accommodations um with hotels at
39%, resorts at 16%, and motel at 12%.
So definitely still the majority of your
overnight visitors are doing traditional
paid accommodations. And then on the far
right hand side we have 9% who are
staying at a campground or RV park.
In the survey that we do with the Travel
USA, our syndicated survey, we ask about
75 different activities and they're all
pretty generic, but with the return to
sample, we're able to really narrow down
on Scottsdale specific activities. So on
the left hand side, we categorize those
75 activities into six different
groupings. And what's most popular for
your visitors are going to be
entertainment activities. So almost 70%
um do some some type of entertainment
activity and then 58% outdoors. When we
look on the right hand side, these are
going to be those Scottsdale specific.
Um so we've got Old Town um at 42%. That
is by far and away the most popular
activity. Um it's almost double, just
even that second there with the
Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall at 23%.
Then we've got the Oldtown Art
Galleries, the Scottsdale Quarter. And
then one that actually bumped up from
2023 about four or five points is going
to be spring training. So a lot more
people in 2024 did spring training than
we saw in the year before. And then
rounding out the top six is going to be
that Sonorin preserve at 9%.
Something that I always like to look at
is going to be the um local unique
businesses where that money is going to
stay within Scottsdale. So 37% said that
they um ate somewhere that included
unique and local foods and 59% had
visited a finer upscale dining um
establishment. and 55% said that they
shopped at a locallyowned business. So
again, all that money is going to be
more likely to stay within the
community. We asked folks as they are
done with their vacation, what
perceptions did they have of Scottsdale
afterwards. So 66% said beautiful
scenery, great place to relax, good for
an adult vacation, uh wonderful first
class hotels, and great for golfers. I
think one thing that we there was only
one that actually declined
year-over-year and it was the
affordability of dining. Um so something
to just keep an eye on in terms of
perceptions. Um 80% of your visitors
were repeat visitors with 33% having
visited twice within the last 12 months.
And then 86% I love this plan to visit
Scottsdale again in the future because
they had such a great experience.
and they would also recommend it to
their friends who didn't come with them.
So 90% of people said that they were
likely to recommend Scottsdale as a
destination to others. And then this is
the last slide I have for you guys. So
we ask about satisfaction on a scale of
1 to five, very dissatisfied to very
satisfied. And 64% of your overnight
visitors clicked that top button, number
five, um that they were very satisfied
with their overall trip. This is great.
We like to see anything over 50% and
this is well above that. Um and so the
top three categories that are really
leading into that 64 positive experience
is going to be accommodations,
food, and cleanliness.
Food, even though it's second did drop a
little bit, but I do think that's more
related to the cost and not the
experience in the quality of food. Uh
and then if I were to pick one place
where you guys could um maybe
work on um is going to be that value for
money. So that was 39%. We're very
satisfied. But to be completely honest,
we are seeing this getting lower and
lower in every single destination.
That's just a part of the times we are
living in today. But thank you all so
much.
Thank you so much, Kelsey.
Commissioners, do we have any questions
or comments for Kelsey? Don't go far.
Just in case.
Just one quick one. Uh, of all the
accommodation slide, I'm assuming the
rest of that like 40% was short-term
rentals is where people were staying. I
didn't see that as a category.
Right. So, um, short-term rentals made
up about 15%. So, we're changing the
survey a little bit next year to get
much clearer on that because right now
it can be like a mix of hotels, bed and
breakfast, those kind of things. But
next year, we're getting much more
narrow to say it's truly a short-term
rental.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Any other
questions? All right. Thank you so much.
That was wonderful. Thank you,
Madam Chair. Commissioners, Kelsey had a
very short uh presentation here today.
We ask her, there's a lot more data and
information. If you like to see the
reports, we have them posted online.
Quite a bit of information. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Steve. All right,
moving on. on canal convergence update
presentation and commission discussion
regarding canal convergence event
presenter Jennifer Gil. Hi Jennifer.
Hello everybody.
Well, thank you for for having me up
here. It's uh been a little while since
I've chatted with you guys about Canal
Convergence, but I am very excited to be
here today to uh take us back a little
bit and talk about Canal Convergence
2024. I'm going to do an overview of the
event for you guys, talk about some of
the metrics, uh the attendance, all of
the different things, but also right
around the corner, we have Canal
Convergence 2025. So, I'm definitely
going to be dipping into a preview of
that for you all. And also a little bit
of information on 2026 and some of the
planning that we're looking at.
All right. So, Canal Convergence 2024
was November 8th through the 17th. Um,
at the Scottsdale Waterfront, we had the
overall theme of reflections. I will
note that uh the 2024 event was a week
later than what we traditionally do,
which is usually the first full week in
November, but we wanted to avoid the
presidential election being right in the
middle of the event. So, we thought that
was kind of the best way to move
forward.
Some general information here. We had
our uh traditional evening hours always
free and open to the public. Um some
things I want to note is that in
addition to the Scottsdale waterfront
location, we also had artwork in the
Scottsdale Fashion Square and for the
first time we had our Canal Convergence
Mini Film Festival which we hosted at
the Harkkins Campbell View Theater. And
of course we had lots of other events
going on, our different workshops, our
tours, um all of these things. But I'm
going to digress and let the video speak
for me because that is our um best way.
[Music]
Where
[Music]
am I?
[Music]
Okay.
So, um we had about a team of 16
different installers working over 12
days using doing 8 to 10 hour days to
install eight of these physical artworks
throughout the waterfront. Um we also
had the drone rehearsal and uh this does
not include the many hours that were
went into the artists time and staff
time to create things ahead of the um
install 10 days or 12 days excuse me.
And then of course I want to uh just
note that the we had these wonderful
artworks for Canal Convergence, a
dazzling uh collection that every artist
and every installation had sort of a
different take on the theme of
reflections from things that were more
conceptual to to very literal. Um I also
want to point out that we had our first
ever drone performance. Um it was wholly
unique. It's I have looked as far as I
can and I have not seen anything where
the drones were this close to the
audience and over the water like that.
So, we had three of those uh
performances for just three of the
nights. And uh I will just say on a on a
personal note, it was kind of a magical
experience because for those 10 minutes,
those thousands of people, everyone just
went quiet and watched and listened and
it was just something quite beautiful.
Then we have some of our other artworks
here. Of course, our Walter Productions
fire shows, one of our classics, one of
the favorites. Uh each time with a new
installation. Um I also want to note
there in the corner we have the piece
called Molecules by the Urban Conga. And
I'm happy to announce that they just won
the uh merit award for uh festivals and
events for the Kota Awards, which is a
very prestigious award ceremony and um
group for uh public art.
So, I also want to note that we this
year did a survey um on site uh with our
partner with Magnum Bikes and they um
doing the survey they would uh be have
the chance to enter a electric bike
which was so fun and uh we had some
really great feedback. I just wanted to
share a a couple of the the quotes that
we got there. I love the participation
uh note there. Really fun. And I will
also say this year I had a chance to to
just talk with several people and so
many stories about how people have been
coming for years. They always bring
their friends and families and how they
schedule their trips and or coming to
Scottsdale for the fall winter season to
make sure that they come for canal
convergence.
So of course we had our workshops uh
this year with the uh nationwide
innovation zone. Um we had about 55
different workshops and we worked with
11 uh nonprofit and community partners.
And then as you can see from the
workshop feedback, we had a very um high
uh numbers of satisfaction from the
different workshop attendees.
We also had a number of different
special events and tours. Uh so we
worked with ASU to have a sustainable
fashion show this year which is really
fun. We of course have our VIP events,
receptions. We partnered with Scottsdale
Water once again to do the one water
brewing showcase where we have the um uh
very very recycled water um brewed into
beer with local breweries. Uh we also
did our salt river project and public
art tours which all sold out. Um so
those are also very popular.
Next I wanted to talk about some of our
publications and uh TV spot highlights.
So we had over or we had 71 instances of
different types of press coverage which
was actually double than the 2023 year
and uh just a lot of different um
publications uh both print and uh
television online the MSNBC travel tips
uh timeout.com
um and of course as you can see up there
Arizona Images magazine and just lots of
lots of great coverage for our event.
Um also wanted to talk about some social
media and marketing highlights. So
social media is I would say our our
number one avenue to the public. Um with
that survey that I mentioned, it was the
number one way people heard about Canal
Convergence as an overall event. Um so
we had about 1.1 million impressions. Um
over 31,000 engagements with Scottsdale
Arts Post. Um, I also want to note that
uh for our paid advertising um for
social media uh we worked with Arizona
influencers and Scene Select and one
post just one post receiving um 1.3
million plays and 86,000 interactions.
Um so really really high numbers there
for our social media. Um as you can tell
from the images and video of the event,
it just goes really well together. Uh we
also had some different ads, local
digital billboards. Uh we also had an ad
in the uh USA Today travel edition. So
really just you know spreading across
the board and of course working with
experience Scottsdale uh one of our very
valued partners um to really hit the
travel writers and different um national
markets.
So for attendance um have some
highlights here. So, we had uh just over
130,000 people at this uh past year's
event. Had over 4,000 uh workshop
attendees. Uh 235 tour participants and
uh some new data I want to share this
year working with our digital software.
21% of the audience at Canal Convergence
this year were from out of state. And so
those top states were California, Texas,
Illinois, um Colorado, and Florida.
Some other interesting data that I
wanted to share with you all um comes
from the uh geo fencing software that we
utilize. And I just wanted to pick out a
couple locations around the canal
convergence event showing that the
overall uh amount of people the event
really brings in um during those 10
days. So as you can see here we have the
fashion square, we have uh the chop shop
which is on the corner of Scottsdale
Road and Fifth Avenue and Bourbon and
Bones which is a high-end restaurant on
third and Scottsdale Road. And uh so the
fashion square um there's over what was
it nearly a 100,000 people more um
during the canal convergence event dates
than the 10 days prior. Um and then for
both the chop shop and bourbon and bones
as you can see here during the canal
convergence dates we had about a
thousand people more visit those
locations um than the 10 days prior and
the 10 days after. So, just really again
showing uh the overall draw that Canal
Convergence has for not just the event,
but the city of Scottsdale as well.
And of course, I also wanted to uh point
out Olivan Ivy. Um if any of you have
ever tried to make a reservation to
Olivan Ivy during Canal Convergence,
it's you got to get there early. Um but
this is a chart for visits showing the
month of November and December. And I
highlighted the Canal Convergence dates
there. And you can see that our second
Saturday of the event was the highest
amount of visits the restaurant received
for those entire two months.
So
that will close out my overview of Canal
Convergence 2024. And I also just want
to give you a quick preview of what we
have coming this year. So we have uh
Canal Convergence Showtime is the theme.
Um, and you can use jazz hands if you
want. I like to. Um, and the dates are
November 7th through the 16th this year.
So, here is a preview of some of the
artworks. Um, I also want to note to the
the Showtime theme. It's really going to
be looking at the cross-section between
uh performance and public art. Uh, the
prime example of course being the Walter
Productions fire show. Performance has
been a huge part of Canal Convergence
and its overall success. Um, so and also
this year is the 50-year anniversary for
the performing arts center and uh so you
know as a part of Scottsdale Arts, we
want to help celebrate that as well. So
we're really looking to have these
really interesting installations for um
Canal Convergence 2025. The piece you
see in the middle there, the large loop
that will be called Long Wave. And that
piece is going to be 330 feet long and
two 22 feet in diameter. It will be the
largest lightbased installation we have
ever installed along the canal. Um over
on the left hand side you'll see what
looks like a giant TV and it is that's
called big TV and uh so it'll have lots
of different uh content that people can
flip through with the different knobs.
It has a sort of retro TV feel but also
the screen will move back and it'll turn
into a stage. So we'll have live
performances in the TV. Um and then also
at the top uh was that left? Yes, sorry.
The top left up there, we have this
larger than-l life kind of steampunk
style octopus and its feet are made of
drums that you can play to activate the
different lights. And so that's just a
collection of the some of the different
pieces we'll have and more to come on
that. And of course, with Showtime being
the theme, we are going to have more
performances than ever. So, we'll
continue to have the live music um at
this main stage, but and the dance
performances, the return of the ASU
fashion show, but we're also having um
some new roaming performances, some
flash mobs, um and lots of different
special things to come still to be
announced.
And then, of course, uh we will continue
to have our special events and so many
workshops, uh looking at the overall, um
theme of performance and working with
the different artists. So, we're all
very excited to see what this year uh
has to offer.
And then finally, I just wanted to note
that we are already starting to plan
Canal Convergence 2026. Just a couple of
notes, we are looking at the overall
theme for 2026 to really focus in on
Arizona um in the American Southwest,
the culture, the climate, history,
everything. and you know, we really
wanted to take a look at that and
thinking about the the city's 75 year
anniversary. Um, so it really is a part
of a celebration of that and also the
wonderful uh the wonderful world around
us here in Arizona in Scottsdale. Um,
we're also going to be doing an artist
residency with the um new Scottsdale
Arts at Catalra residency program. So,
we're really excited about that. And uh
finally we are looking to bring um a new
conference the public art exchange um
which will be a public art
administrators conference to coincide
with canal convergence dates and be a
part of their programming.
And finally I just want to say thank you
to the TDC and of course the city of
Scottsdale. We could not do this amazing
free event without you. something that's
become a a wonderful tradition for
families across Scottsdale and dare I
say Arizona and uh we're just so
grateful.
Thank you so much, Jennifer. This is one
of my favorite events. I absolutely love
it. Um you guys do an amazing job. I've
had the pleasure of sitting on the um
committee that kind of looks through the
different submissions of art and all of
them are fantastic. Um it's a hard job
to choose, you know, who's going to be
selected for that year. So, thank you so
much for your work on it. I really liked
seeing those local business stats. Um,
you know, how the numbers kind of
changed during the event. I thought that
was clever and and intriguing. So, thank
you for doing that. Commissioners, any
questions or comments?
You did a great job. Thank you so much,
Jennifer. We'll see you in November.
All right. Item number five, Scottsdale
Dia de los Muertos festivities pres
presentation commission discussion and
possible recommendation to city council
for bed tax expenditure up to $150,000
to lure southwest media and arts to
support the Scottsdale di Muertos and
art installation experience and event.
The presenter is Robert Ramirez.
Welcome.
Good morning, uh, commissioners. Once
again, it's uh our ninth year uh before
the commission to talk about Scotsdale
Muertos. And again, a brief uh
background. I'm an executive producer uh
from Lore Southwest, and I founded this
company. We're specialists in cultural
programming. Uh we do a lot of
festivals, specifically with the Los
Muertos, but I also do other
productions, high-end productions. I'm
also an executive producer over at the
LA County Fair where I design and curate
uh largecale art. Uh this year we had
about 800 850,000 visitors who came to
see our production but our main focus is
Scatia Muertos and we love to talk about
these festivities
but for those and I never assume that
people know what the losser is about.
Diuertos celebrates and remembers people
who passed away through festivities,
culture, performance. It's a very
ancient celebration but has become the
third fastest growing celebration in the
US. And these observances
spark the interests of multicultures who
come and celebrate the deos muertos
through specific installations festival
music theater procession. Uh therefore
Scottsdale is perfect ideal and has
become our home. So, Di Muertos has
become stronger over the last nine years
and I'm very excited to talk about what
it is we did last year and how this
festivity has grown into a very strong
premier event here in Scottsdale.
I'm going to be talking about and
referencing the strategic uh plan that
occurs within Scottsdale and how we
align with these festivities. But most
importantly, want to talk about some of
the visuals you can see here. That's the
old adobe mission where we started
Scotsdale Muertos nine years ago. And as
you can see, this is largescale art. And
that's the origins of the deos muertos
in Oldtown.
Culture and creativity. Scotsio ditos
aligns with city of Scottsdale tourism
and strategic plan. Culture and create
creativity as referenced. The others
muertos brings out the culture and
creativity in programming in art in
sculpture and it weaves in with it with
the ability to present different
activations. So as you can see this
picture here this was from Oldtown last
year where we had our inaugural
procession.
The strategy position Scottsdale as a
center for artist art and design. uh
very proud that in Scottsdale we are the
only city where we bring artists from
Mexico outside of Arizona and focus on
Arizona Scottsdale Phoenix artist. Here
is a folk ballet company from Los
Angeles. And I could safely say that I
believe we came in at about 98
percentile in terms of selling out the
theater production. And this theater
production aligns with the philosophy of
these festivities where as a patron, as
a tourist, you could come to Diia
Muertos and experience a gallery exhibit
over at the Adobe Mission. You could see
large-scale art outside, public art
free. You could participate in a
procession in Oldtown or more than
likely if you would want to do all of
them, you could attend a theater
ticketed event. And that was the
original focus of what I presented about
nine years ago. That our goal was to get
to that point and become an ideal
destination for the desertos because not
everybody's going to travel to Mexico.
And we feel very confident that we
achieved this last year working together
with the city of Scottsdale Oldtown
Experience officially as partners and
Scottsdale Arts.
Again, some example uh of what we did
last year over 150 performers from a
folk ballet company. We brought in
another ballet company from Wanauato,
Mexico. And then we partnered with uh
Scottsdale Sister Cities where we
brought in a Estientina. So again, when
we do the Muertos, it's not just
local. It brings in a fusion of
international high-profile artists. So
we're very, very proud of that.
Culture and creativity strategy bring
museum events and experiences outdoors.
With the partnership with Scottsdale
Arts and their amazing support of
providing the civic center uh as a
sponsor partnership, we were able to
expand significantly the art
installations. This is one s one example
of the large scale uh three-dimensional
and 2D sculptures which we did. We're
talking about 13oot Katrinas that I
designed. I'm also an artist and
designer and had uh artists in Mexico
build them for us and through a
partnership with the Ministry of
Secretary of the Secretary of Tourism in
Mexico were able to get these uh
beautiful arts over to Scottsdale. So, a
lot of art came from from Mexico, but
that was through the alignment we had
with the Mexican government. So a lot of
different footprints and international
relationships to be able to bring this
uh this uh high-profile art from
sculptures, altars and installations and
all of these were throughout the civic
center in addition to PO which is the
entry on Brown. So we felt very good
about the installations we did and this
was an experience. So again, our
objective was create a high quality
museum experience for attendees who
could walk through the installations
over the course of 4 days that then
builds up to a procession, then builds
up to a festival. So a lot of
activations and abilities for people to
enjoy public uh high-profile art.
Additionally, as mentioned, uh the
regions that I work with, I I actually
have a production house here in the
Phoenix metro area, but our focal point
is Los Angeles, Scottsdale, our partners
in Waka de Huarees, which is an UNESCO
site for tourism, Gualara Haliscoco,
which is another UNESCO site in La Pake.
Mexico City, we partner with Mexico City
and artists there. And Wanoato, Mexico.
So again, reemphas re-emphasizing the
international aspect of this festivity.
strategy, expansiv activities and
performing arts capacity. Uh over the
last while this is our ninth year over
the last three years we partnered uh and
basically fulfilled our original promise
which was to activate the performing
arts uh center and we've been able to do
that and this year will be our fourth uh
year in which we activate the theater
once again providing attendees with the
option to see public art participate in
ditos but then see a high-profile ditos
show about that show. It's the first
show and the only show in our country
that basically focuses on the other
desertos. Another fact to be proud for
the city of Scottsdale. Most the other
festivities basically do a mirage of
different activations within a theater
show. This show is a 100% ditos show
that was um organically presented and
within three years we sold it out. So
there's an audience. People want this
and are asking us for more.
Last year with a partnership with
Experience Scottsdale, Oldtown and the
city of Scottsdale, we were able to work
together and basically market and
promote the event. So this was a
combination of what we as a production
company do in terms of marketing, but
also aligning with Oldtown and the city
of Scottsdale. So, we did a lot of TV,
radio, a lot of digital, and again, as
my previous presenter mentioned, the
vast majority of our success has been
digital on social media. Uh, a few days
ago, we officially announced our theater
show uh without a paid boost, and we're
hitting about 20,000 views in just a
couple days. So, there's an audience
that's been waiting, and that signifies,
okay, this is definitely something that
people within Scottsdale and outside of
the region are very much interested in.
Again, some examples of what we did last
year. And again, this is the partnership
and the alignment we had with the city
of Scottsdale, which was a first for us.
Last year, uh we had an official
partnership. And these are some examples
of how we work with Oldtown. Oldtown
provided us two ambassadors. We had uh
representation at kiosk. We had
presentations at the farmers market.
Scottsdale Arts also partnered with us.
They're very very integral to the
production because they marketed the
event at a high profile. So that
partnership allowed for the audience
that follow Scottsdale Arts to be aware
of our events. We're very grateful to
Scottsdale Arts for putting the event in
their own platforms and their website,
so on and so forth.
Again, a combination of what we as a
company does and the city of Scottsdale.
So a great example of working together.
uh Telmundo was our contacts uh of
promoting the other loss muertos and the
additional Fox 10 and channel 3 were
partnerships and activations with the
city of Scottsdale specifically Oldtown
and I believe the agency that they
utilize.
Again, this is I believe going to be our
fourth year that we do the largecale
banner promotions for Scotsio de Muertos
in Oldtown. So that believe that speaks
for itself in terms of how we position
the festivity
as referenced. Uh social media is huge
for us. The vast majority of our
attendees basically interact with our
social media and I'll touch base further
ahead on how we utilize high-profile
social influencers basically um
authorities on the other muertos who are
highly respected both in Mexico, Los
Angeles and the US. But our social media
expanded last year with these
partnerships, specifically with a
artiste by the name of Gus Mahia, who
has north of 100,000 followers, highly
respected, travels all over Mexico, is
recognized by the Mexican government for
his diartos expertise, and we're very
proud to say that he's now a partner. So
he's now a partner with the city with
our event, which is also a city of
Scottsdale event. So he will from now on
set aside a week to specifically focus
and work with us for di Mertos. He came
out last year was impressed was very
emotional about how we treat these
festivities and he said I just want to
be part of this be part of the team and
help this event grow and let everybody
know how authentic and beautiful uh this
city is and how welcoming and so he's
part of our team. So we we we find that
to be very successful and a tremendous
achievement for what we've done over the
last nine years.
Uh Scottio de los Muertos aligns with
Spring Hill Suites. So again, we had the
opportunity to partner with one of the
local hotels to market, promote, and
utilize this facility as our home base.
Uh we're doing this again this year. And
uh I'm not sure if they're here. I think
they were going to come out potentially
and say some words, but this again our
focus was discussing art installations
at hotels. The first year we had
installations at the Omni, but I know
that's a bit outside of Scottsdale. So,
our focus was aligned with local hotels
and they were very generous and became
our home base and we marketed the event.
Uh it was for our ballet, our production
and we also provided art installations.
Part of the relationship with this uh
establishment is that they are part of
the Kenya AC hotel and we are in
discussions for the new facility that's
going to be in Oldtown to convert the
whole don't want to get ahead of
ourselves but they initiated the
conversations. Our objective for 2026 is
to basically convert that hotel into a
diia de los muertos experience. So part
of the relationship of utilizing the
beauty of Scottsdale but also the
facilities. So this is part of that
property and those discussions are
occurring right now. But they are our
partner once again for this year.
Historical funding uh I came before you
in 2017. I think that speaks for itself
in in terms of what we've uh requested
uh in 2020 and 2021. We name we made no
requests but we still did our diia de
los muertos. uh a bit of reference there
in 2020 2021 the pandemic years we were
the only diutotos festivities that had a
true activation every event in the
country and in Mexico shut down and had
online presentations we made it a point
to basically absorb the cost self-fund
reach out to sponsors and created a
beautiful experience and a lot of people
attended so we're very proud that that's
the pivotal year where people became
aware of what we're doing because we
were the only event occurring and it
just propelled us to a different level
of attendance. Uh and there's the
funding that has occurred afterwards.
Last year we asked for 150,000 in
partnership with the city of Scottsdale.
And I guess to underscore the
partnership just for clarification, it's
not a partnership in word meaning just a
logo. We are working together. We meet.
we discuss and this is a true alignment
of having the sensitivity grow utilizing
and mutually benefiting from our
resources. So I know that the
partnership part could just be viewed
upon as a logo. It's more than that.
It's become a very strong um focal point
for expanding the festivities. Just
wanted to make sure that I reference
that.
Okay, we're at this year. So uh quick
walkthrough of what is what it is we're
doing for this year. So once again,
we're doing Dansa de Muertos. However,
we're bringing a premier folk ballet
company from Mexico. Uh we're not going
to be bringing the Los Angeles Ballet
Company because my rule of thumb as an
executive producer is three years is
enough. Uh for the fourth year, and
again for the first time ever in our
country, we are bringing a full-fledged
ballet company to present a diiatos
presentation.
And they're coming from uh Gulakan. Uh
my apologies, it's not Gulakan. Yes,
Gulyakan. It's uh that's the city
they're coming from. It's going to be
ticketed and it'll be at 8:00 uh on a
Friday. Now, the only difference this
year is again walking through the
activities. Last year we had a very
successful procession. It was the first
time that we did this. Um a lot of
people came out to this procession and
then the following day we had a f a
festival and in the evening we had the
theater production. A lot going on. We
figured let's simplify the process and
the activations because a lot of folks
that came out on Friday were basically
hungry for more and thought okay the
procession occurred where's the festival
so we identified why don't we move the
procession to Saturday this way when you
come out to the festival you have the
procession you have different
activations because the procession while
we were very conservative on the
attendees we were pleasantly surprised
by just how many people showed up and
were amazed by this. So, a bit of change
in terms of the programming. Uh on
Saturday, we're going to be having this
procession along with the art
installation experience with Scottsdale
Arts. Um but on Friday night, we'll be
having the theater production. Again,
lessons learned from last year. Uh
having a festival and in a theater at
night while the show almost sold out,
it's a lot. And our main focus is to
really strengthen this festival and let
the festival stand on its own with no
interruption. So we feel very
comfortable that on Friday, October
24th, the the theater production will
occur. On Saturday, the festival will
occur and the art installation will
occur again through four days during
that week.
uh part of the enhanced marketing
efforts um my co-founder Helen and I met
with a secretary of tourism uh through
an official um connection with our
consul here in Phoenix and basically the
agreement was that as long as we promote
Mexico on the tourism level and work
with artists in Mexico we reserve the
rights to utilize their marks which is
visit Mexico tremendous accomplishment
they don't give that away easily so they
saw saw what we did. We were endorsed by
the consul and basically invited to sit
and meet with the office and we now have
this beautiful relationship and official
relationship. And that picture is
actually at the secretary of tourism
over in Mexico which then allowed us for
this year to start establishing
partnerships with um the Mexico ministry
obviously and then now the uh state of
Sinoa secretary of tourism, state of
Waka secretary of tourism, the state of
Sonoda Secretary of Tourism. So a lot of
official establishments have come on
board to support and market the event in
their country.
Again we'll be utilizing Gasmahia Arte
uh who's now part of the festivities and
again this is a very big part of the
festivities. So he's a very renowned a
very well-known renowned photographer
and we're going to have different
activations utilizing his art. Um but
again uh this goes to what we're trying
to do and what we plan to do is again
align with the Arizona Office of Tourism
which came on board last year as a
sponsor. Uh align with more Latino media
outlets through the help of the Gonul
increase TV and radio exposure again
through the alignment with the city of
Scottsdale and the Gonul and increase
our social media footprint which became
very strong and powerful last year.
Uh these were our partners from last
year and I believe all of them will be
coming back. Um we're very proud of the
partnership we initiated with Scottsdale
Sister Cities. They have become a very
integral part of the production and we
have uh agreed on bringing in a lot of
artists from Sonota.
This is our request. Uh Laura Media Arts
in collaboration with the city of
Scottsdale request 150,000 in tourism de
development funds to support expanded
events in celebration of Scottsdale
lotos. And I believe this is a video.
[Music]
[Applause]
God
[Music]
[Music]
La.
[Music]
Godl.
[Music]
God
is worthy.
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
That was the procession from last year,
the UN. Thank you, commissioners.
Thank you so much, Robert. Um, another
fabulous event that I've had the
opportunity to attend, multiple pieces
of it, and it's always amazing. Um, I
want to open it up to our commissioners
for questions uh regarding the event or
comments.
Good morning. Thank you. Great
presentation as always. Uh I have a
couple questions. First question is um
second congratulations on the visit
Mexico. I think that's a a big deal.
I'm sorry.
Congratulations on the visit Mexico
relationship. I think that's a big deal.
Yes. Thank you.
However, you mentioned Los Angeles in
the marketing uh information I have
here. Is there any other city in the
country that you're marketing in or is
it just LA and Mexico?
Mexico, Los Angeles, and then when we do
our social media marketing, we target
New Mexico and obviously through our
targeted ads, we basically stick in the
area around Arizona for people to travel
here.
Okay. Uh the second question is the um
thing that's fascinating to me about the
social media driving everything is can
do you have direct relation or direct
accounting for the people that
took in the social media ad and then
actively purchased the hotel or what it
accounted for in terms of room nights
and um how many people came? we could
identify and because when we do paid
ads, we're able to see the traffic, the
comments, and who does all that in who
basically is signifying they're coming
to Scottsdale. So, we did see an uptick
last year of comments and people
basically saying we didn't know this was
happening and now we're making
arrangements to come uh to the
festivities. The analytics via social
media provide us the the chatter and
where this information is coming from.
The vast majority of our audience, I
would say 88% are women. Uh they're the
ones that are driving the event because
of families and they feel safe with the
event. Um and the age is all over the
place from 25 to 60. Um so our
indicators, if I'm answering your
question, is uh the intention of going
and coming out. Now
did that mean they came out? Well, the
increased numbers in attendance gives us
the confidence that the marketing
campaign via social media was
successful. Uh because that's where
everybody's on in terms of in
specifically uh Instagram. Facebook is
available for a different maybe my
generation Facebook. We still do
Facebook but our driving force is
Instagram. Uh we are going to be doing
Tik Tok. Uh I've been told that's the uh
that's the uh platform uh the immediate
platform for people under the age of 30.
But our strong suit is Instagram uh
because of our longevity. So we're able
to track the interest, the commitment
and the audience specifically in
translating into who's attended. Our
ability is to uh basically look at the
actual attendance of people that have
come. Uh we know that because of the
theater uh event from Los we get a
tremendous amount of people that come
from Los Angeles um and Tucson uh just
obviously outside of Scottsdale people
come in but our main uh driving force is
Tucson and Los Angeles that come in
and who is the actual target audience? I
mean do you have a specific demo that
you are targeting? Um because you go a
variety of social media tools, right?
You mentioned the 30 and under. Is that
the main target or is it
when we when we target fortunately
through our social media, we target
folks that are interested in culture in
museum events in traveling to
Scottsdale. So our main focal point is
identifying through the algorithm people
that are specifically looking for
festivities in October through culture
and uh all the different dynamics that
exist in our targeting. So museum
followers, art followers, performance
and again because these festivities are
so dynamic, you get theater, you get
outdoor activations, we basically have
to be very mindful of not going too
broad. Uh but we target northern Mexico,
we target Arizona, we target Los
Angeles, and obviously we put in the
greater Phoenix area.
I would just like to know um you know
based upon the growth of the event, what
is the attendance last year, what do you
anticipate the attendance being this
year?
Last year uh with the the mission our
numbers were conservative around 5,000.
The mission was open for about 10 days.
Uh the numbers that I believe Steve you
provided for us were for the festivities
were about 4,000 give or take and the
procession had oddly enough I believe
around 3,500 people who attended the art
installation experience well that's
ongoing traffic of people that come.
Those numbers hit us north of 10,000. Uh
and again we pivoted this year because
we think we're just people are getting
overwhelmed with the potential of having
so many activations. We figured for this
year and on we have a beautiful date. I
believe we have the most ideal weekend
in Arizona and we're going to own it.
We're going to basically say this is the
ideal weekend. let's focus on what I'm
accustomed to, which is large-scale
festivals during one day, complemented
with the walkth through installation
experience, but we're full on and just
dedicating all of our energy with the
city of Scottsdale and the tourism board
and our partners to make this festival
the focal point. This way, people aren't
going, "Well, maybe I'll come out to the
procession, but I already saw an
activation. I won't come out Saturday."
This way the whole focal point is a
festival from 1:00 to 10 o'clock at
night. The festival is populated with
the activations, a procession. The
procession we're going to be doing a
Katrina fashion show as well. So it just
goes with making sure that this
festivity is the focal point. Uh so
basically we feel that that based on my
experience as a producer of festivals
will really get our numbers to go even
higher simply because people are going
to have no choice but to come on that
Saturday to get everything. The theater
experience is different. That's a
different audience. Um being at almost
98% last year gives us a confidence that
uh we'll do well with that theater
experience.
seating is I believe 852 seats and we
tend to do very well right beforehand
and it's a Friday. So again to answer
your question uh the pivoting and
adjusting the dates for Saturday uh will
make sense uh to get more people to come
out.
Madam Chair, commissioners regarding uh
there was a question regarding
attendance over the duration of the
event. Robert's numbers are fairly
correct. Uh when you look at the
programming that was done on Saturday,
the procession which was on Friday, and
then the art activation was out there, I
believe 4 days somewhere in that time
frame that it was available for the
public to see and go through the civic
center mall. So, uh we feel fairly
comfortable with those attendance
numbers as well as what we'll position
related to this event is normally what
we'll do is we're going to talk about
some other events here in a moment.
they're mostly from a marketing
perspective that we position ourselves
uh to make sure the destinations promote
it and that's how we measure the value
associated with any expenditure just to
clarify that.
So Steve on the attendance have you seen
growth from year to year? I know we with
the procession we did the last year
where we the number went up the request
went up uh and it was because they were
building the the procession but have you
seen an increase? Yeah, we we did see an
increase last year just just in regards
to the activation. The Saturday
activation we' never done before on that
Saturday. Uh we generally had the art
pieces out there and then the mission
was involved in some other small
activations. So we increased it
regarding that. The procession was new.
Uh that continues to grow. Hopefully it
will grow this year. We assume it will.
So we are seeing a little bit of an
uptick.
Thank you so much. Um couple questions
from me. So, is anything going to be
going on at the mission this year?
This year, we're going to put a pause on
the mission.
Uh, we're going to hold the mission
simply because, as we talked about, our
focal point is the civic center. Uh,
it's the heart, the kodasone of the
event. The mission is also a separate
entity. It's uh no dollar from the TDC
goes to the mission. So, we're
refocusing on how that experience will
be uh basically supplemented
financially. It's a high-end basically
it's a museum gallery experience that my
company has underwritten for the last
nine years. But again aligning with my
point, we need to identify where our
focus has to be and uh in all
transparency having the mission and
having it free, non-ted and not
utilizing funding from the TDC because
we're very strict on how we do this um
has put a pause on that activation
because we want to make sure that our
focus goes to the festival in alignment
with the questions we're getting. It's a
beautiful I want to say it's a beautiful
I curate it. I'm very proud of that with
our team. Uh but there comes a point
where you have to realize beautiful
incredible spiritual
how will that affect the festival and we
have found that it's essential that we
focus and protect this beautiful weekend
we have protect the festival and not
give people too many options. A lot of
people that went to the old adobe
mission basically said, "Well, we saw
the installation and maybe that well do
we have to go to the festival and it
confuses people and we cannot charge at
the mission because the civic center is
free and our commitment is to have the
vast majority of experiences free to the
public. Uh so it was a combination of a
lot of Helen and I my co-founder we went
through a whole process of going what do
we need to do and we identified the
success of Scasia Duertos is going to
focus on us identifying the art
installation experience and this
festival. Uh so it's more of a
calculated
pause but uh we feel good the mission is
aware and uh we'll see about the future
but I think we put that on hold all
hands on deck on the festival.
Wonderful. I do hope you find a sponsor
for that because I think I hope you find
that sponsor you're looking for because
it's beautiful.
Yes. But even if we find a sponsor it's
still if I it's the question additional
I mean for I mean I curate it. I
underwrite it because it's important.
But even if we find a sponsor, the
reality is we're going to our goal is to
put it on hold for a few cycles and let
people be aware. Oddly enough, the
success of the mission in a way doesn't
benefit the festival because people if
we in all open transparency, it's a it's
a logistical decision as a as an
executive producer to say this is
successful, but we need to make the
festival successful and make it
exclusive and focus on this, grow this,
then we come back to the mission because
now people are aware of the festival and
could go. So we kind of did it the other
way simply because this beautiful civic
center was being constructed so on and
so forth. So there is a thoughtful
logistical objective of what we're
trying to do.
Yes, we want to do the mission but we
our priority is the festival. That is
number one. We need to get that uh at
the highest level and then come back in
a couple years.
Understood. Thank you very much. Um do
we have any other comments from
commissioners? I think we're okay.
anything.
If I may, I just thought can can
Springfield uh Sprinkle say a few words
or I mean
are they were going to come by and say a
few words about our relationship, but I
don't know if that's necessary if that's
taking too much time.
If if they'd like to um since they're
here, just a brief statement would be
great.
We're My apologies.
No problem.
Think of it this way. It's like five
festivals in one. So, I should get 10
minutes per
Thank you, Robert. Hi, everybody. My
name is Heather Mher. the director of
sales for the Spring Hill Suites Phoenix
Scottsdale and also um the new director
of sales for the brand new AC property
that we're building in Oldtown. Um I'm
here today just to uh share with you the
importance of this event. Um just this
year we became partners with Robert and
Helen for um the Day of the Dead event.
And uh just to my one property in four
or five days uh it brought almost
$20,000 worth of revenue. Um, so we had
multiple conversations prior to the
event, after the event, what worked,
what didn't work. And this isn't just a
one-time opportunity. I mean, I see the
potential um in Robert and what he does
and what he brings to his events and
what he can bring to the city of
Scottsdale. And so, not only with my one
hotel, but now that I have two
properties, um, what we can do moving
forward, not again just for this one
hotel that I have, but for two. And then
for just the mass majority of um
Scottsdale as a whole, uh the clients
that we had staying at the property that
did not come to Scottsdale for this
event have literally called me and said,
"Hey, when is this event happening
again? We want to come to Scottsdale
just because we went. We had a great
experience." So those are people that
would not maybe necessarily come back to
Scottsdale had this event not been
taking place and know that it's going to
be happening on a yearly basis. So those
are just people that have reached out to
me. there might be many many many others
um that are in that same position. So
again, this relationship is something
that I've built with Robert over the
last, you know, almost two years and um
very excited just to see it continue to
grow. So from my from my heart, we
really want this event to continue to
happen and to grow and just be um
absolutely amazing for the city. So
thank you for your time.
Wonderful. Thank you for coming out
today.
Any other questions, commissioners?
City, how are we doing? Anything else?
We're looking for a recommendation.
We're going to move forward with that.
Yes. Thank you, Chairman, and members of
the commission. So, uh, as Robert
alluded to, this particular festival and
and all that it entails hits several of
the key points of our strategic plan,
uh, bringing art outdoors, culture and
creativity, sense of place, and I really
think that what people are drawn to is
the authenticity that you don't find
very often with Dio Sales, Smart Dose
events. And so, uh, my predecessor
strongly believed in this and encouraged
Robert and Helen to expand the event
and, uh, they have and we feel like it's
really has a lot of momentum after last
year, especially with Mexico and and all
that it brings. And so we're excited to
partner with them again this year and
and see um the beautiful things they
bring out to the civic center in October
and um enjoy this event growing year
over year going forward.
Thank you very much. Okay, moving
forward without any further questions.
Good. Okay, we are being asked for a
possible recommendation of a bed tax
expenditure of $150,000.
I will take any motions from
commissioners.
I move that we give them a full
expenditure of $150,000 for the DS
deertos event.
I have a second.
Thank you. All those in favor? I
I
I look forward to it. Robert, thank you
very much for coming.
Thank you.
Just to get a clarification on the vote.
All in favor? I believe correct.
Yes,
Chris. Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Item number six, 2025 Scottsdale
fall auction event funding request,
presentation, commission discussion, and
possible recommendation to city council
for bed tax expenditure up to $75,000
to support one-year event funding
agreement with Barrett Jackson Auction
Company. Our presenter today is Megan
Jones, senior vice president, marketing
and content for Barrett Jackson.
Welcome.
Thank you. Thank you for having us. Um,
I am Megan Jones. Eric Larson, our COO,
is also here with me today. Thank you
for allowing us to present. We are here
seeking your consideration for event
development funding for our fall
auction.
I'll go through some of the highlights
from last year. U we had 20 hours of
live television coverage on history and
FYI.
I will note on history and FYI when
we're on television, the city of
Scottsdale is present. They use a lot of
really great B-roll shots that we get
from experience Scottsdale. um coming
into those shots and then show some
scenery as well. Uh we had 192 sponsors
and exhibitors, 56.6 million in total
sales, 794 vehicles sold, 429 pieces of
automoilia sold. We raised 1.25 million
for charity. And I will also note we're
over 165 million for charity total. Um
since Barrett Jackson's inception, we
issued 159 media credentials. We had
nearly 6,000 biders from all 50 states
in five foreign countries and we had
just over 54,000 attendees last year.
So, we've been saying Scottsdale is so
nice, we're doing it twice. This is the
tagline we're using. Um, we had a lot of
learnings from last year and one of them
is we want to make sure that fans know
that there are two events in Scottsdale,
our fall auction and then our flagship
auction in January. Um, we also listen
to our fans and have several new
experiences coming out of fan surveys
and feedback that we received. Um, I
will note our dates October 15th through
18th do align this year with some of the
fall breaks, especially in Scottsdale,
which is really good for us. U, we're
leaning into a lot more things for
families and children this year than we
have done in the past. Um, some of the
surveys, uh, feedback that we got that
led to some of the new experiences
because Scottsdale and Westworld or
Westworld itself is so large, a lot of
people asked for additional areas to
sit. We're introducing a fan zone this
year that will be air conditioning,
it'll have lounge seating, it will have
music. Um, we've also heard our fans,
they talked about the price for food on
site. So, we're in introducing a new um,
family fourpack of meals. It'll be $40.
So, a family of four can have a burger,
fries, and a drink for $40 to help meet
that need.
Um, we're also introducing a new
collector's club. It'll be another VIP
experience area where people can join
and gather. We're really looking at this
event as being a more accessible event
for families and for groups to gather.
I don't know why that picture isn't
showing up. Um, this was supposed to
show where people come from for the 24
2024 fall auction and 2025 Scottsdale
auction. and just showing that people
really do come from all over the country
and from Canada. Um, obviously our fall
Scottsdale fall auction is four days as
compared to our Scottsdale uh January
auction that's nine days. So this
January one is actually very impressive
if you could see it.
So now I'll talk about some of our
economic impact. So we did this study in
2023 when we had just one event. So in
the last two years we've had two. So
very excited to redo this report and get
you guys some updated numbers. But just
taking an overall look, we have made uh
408.3 million in economic impact, 6
million in state tax revenue, 2 million
in Scottsdale state tax revenue, almost
2700
direct and indirect jobs have been
created, and one 141.3 million in
estimated visitor spending in
Scottsdale.
Some of our marketing objectives for
this year, increase ticket sales,
increase consignment leads and
conversions, increase bidder awareness,
and then overall increase awareness that
Barrett Jackson now hosts two events in
Scottsdale. We want to make sure we're
differentiating the fall from January
and creating compelling reasons for fans
to visit both.
Uh we did start engaging with a new
marketing agency this year. Uh we are
looking to target a little bit younger
and more diverse than we have in the
past. Here is just some examples of some
of the digital creative that we have out
right now. I do also want to note on the
social media side, we do have 2.5
million followers on social media um
from all over the world and we do use
our social media channel as a very
helpful tool to increase awareness as
well.
These ones aren't showing up either.
These were examples of our um paid
media. Uh, one thing I will note
specifically when we mo it when we
market locally in some of the local
print publications, we're specifically
targeting gate attendees. Um, so a lot
of our messaging will be, you know, kids
under 12 free this year on all event
days, which is huge for us. And then we
also are also noting a save the date um
for the January dates as well, so that
people don't get confused. They know
that we have a fall event and a January
event. And then in the more automotive
publications, we're marketing towards
consignment and biders and in co in uh
more national base for those uh print
publications.
So our fan zone is the new fan
experience I mentioned earlier. This
will be indoor. It will be the perfect
spot to gather with friends and family.
It will be airond conditioned. We will
have some lounge style seating, some
music, some interactive activities,
things for families to do and actually
spend more time at our event.
Fall event pricing same. Um throughout
the four days, children under 12 will be
free. We have had a family value day in
the past and it's been the first
Saturday of our event. This year we're
doing it for all event days. So kids
will actually get the chance to see the
auction as well. It will be all auction
days. And then general admission um
tickets for students are just $10 all
in. This is kids ages 13 through
college. So we do we will do some
college specific targeting and try to
get that younger demo out to the event
too.
So I think last year when we brought
this to you we did talk about some of
the live entertainment opportunities we
have. We will have a stage in our new
fan zone and then we also have a stage
in our south showcase. So there will be
music at different hours of the day and
things really for everyone, not just a
car auction. It really is an event that
everyone can come and enjoy.
So, the expected outcome for this
definitely finding new and diverse fans.
Um, we hope to build the next generation
of auto enthusiasts by making this event
more accessible. We're excited to tell
the story of Scottsdale so nice we're
doing it twice and make sure that people
really understand the fall auction
versus the January. And then we look
forward to producing another quality
event that proves economic impact.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Megan. Any questions,
comments from our commissioners?
I I would just say the missing ads I
would blame on Mr. Larson. Right.
Any other comments, gentlemen?
I'm I'm assuming the footprint is much
less for the fall event versus the
winter event.
Actually, no. It's going to be the same
size. There's one extension that we add
to the end of the city tent in January
that will not be added for the fall, but
the overall footprint will be the same.
So it is nearly a million square feet
under tent and then the whole outside
space as well which is acres. Now last
year it was very hot during our event
week. I think every event day was over
108 degrees. So a lot of our marketing
will also focus on telling the story of
how much is inside this year too.
All right. Wonderful. We are here for a
recommendation. Uh the ask is $75,000.
Do I have a motion?
I move to fund the $75,000 request. Do I
have a second?
I second that.
All those in favor? I. Thank you very
much. Congratulations.
Steve, I'm not sure if we have to wait.
Okay.
Yeah.
Try it amongst yourselves.
When I'm up, I will be brief.
Okay, we are at item number seven, event
program funding request. I believe Steve
is here to talk us through.
Madam Chair, commissioners, uh, this
time since we had so many requests
coming in through our programs, it' be
best to just do a very brief
presentation and go through some of our
event funding recommendations. Uh
usually at the beginning of the fiscal
year this does occur. We get a lot of
events want to put in for their funding
requests generally throughout throughout
the year and then it kind of decreases
each month thereafter. So to begin with
uh just to start with uh we have a total
about 16 events who've applied through
uh three of our vet funding programs.
This first slide kind of outlines the
venue fee program. Many of you familiar
with that. These are tournament driven
participant-driven events that we have
to hit a threshold level, I believe, of
650 room nights to re uh to qualify for
the 12,000. You'll see to the far side
of the screen there, staff is
recommending 12,000 for each of these
tournaments because if they do not meet
that threshold, we reduce them by a
percentage. So, it's pretty much well
based on on math. Uh we have six soccer
teams or tournaments taking place, one
baseball, one frisbee, which is new, and
one tennis. So we'll continue to monitor
these, but staff is recommending the
12,000 on each of these programs here.
The next one is comp comprised mostly of
our community event funding programs. Uh
the one at the bottom is the matching
event advertising fund program. Uh so to
begin with, the majority of these are
horse events taking place at Westworld.
I believe there's a total of four. We
did identify some changes in the
recommendation based on the request and
those are highlighted in on the far
right in red. Um so for the Arabian
Breeder Finals Cup we are recommending
12,500. The request was for 30,000 and
I'll go over what that was based on in
the next screen here. Uh the next one is
Shape Up Us as a fitness event. Uh they
requested 5,500. We're recommending
4500. Day of the Dog Festival, a
community event. They requested 14,500.
We're recommending 6,000 and that's
staff recommendations. Uh the final one,
just kind of go over that. Scottdale is
a mixed martial art event at Westworld.
Uh they participated in this program in
the spring last year. Um pretty
successful in terms of the marketing and
what we received from that. But that's a
matching dollar uh we spend allocate
what they spend on their on their
marketing.
So based on what I was talking about
with the reductions here, uh here's why.
Um Shape Up USA 4,500 reductions due to
the seasonality period requirement. They
identified that they were eligible and
they were not based on the change we
made. So we reduced that. A day of the
dog reduced it by 6,000. That's due to
the attendance that we've been tracking.
The number of years was elevated and
seasonality criteria played in there.
Again, based on what they checked off,
we reduced it because it did not hit
those levels. uh the Arabian breeder
finals uh 12,500 is the reduction due to
the event number of years and the
attendance that we track the number of
years was identified associated with the
spring show not this particular one in
the fall so we reduced it made that
recommendation so the total funding
request from the producers was 227,500
staff recommendation is 200,500
so we're asking for a recommendation for
funding based on staff's recommendations
to move forward
I move that we
Thank you very much, Steve.
Go ahead. Sorry.
Thanks, Steve. Just any want to make
sure there weren't any questions,
anything on any of those events or
reductions. Okay. Thank you. I will take
a motion.
My apologies. Uh I move that we go to
the total funding recommendation of
200,500
for all these events.
I'll take a second.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All those in favor? I
I
Thank you very much, Steve, for that.
That was helpful.
Okay, moving on to staff reports.
Yeah, in the interest of time, we
generally do that on a quarterly basis.
Uh, unless there's some particular
questions. We did include in your packet
the estimated year end and the bed tax
collections also the classification
report. If you have any questions on
that data perhaps next month or we get
to the quarterly basis, we can go over
that a little bit more in detail as well
as the financial statement. But I'm
going to address any question Trey as
well, Rachel, if there's any questions
on the financials.
Okay. Does anyone have any questions?
No. And thank you for these printouts.
They are they are very helpful. Uh up
next is Commissioner's Report.
Commissioners, have we done anything out
in the community? Found any events? Seen
anything you'd like to talk about? Um I
did attend the McCormack Stillman
Railroad Park roundhouse opening. Uh
that was fantastic. If you have kids and
have not taken them out there, please do
so. Uh my great Danes I don't think are
allowed in, but but kids I know will
have a blast there. So, um it's really
amazing and they did a wonderful job.
So, it was really nice to see that. Uh
any public comment? I have not received
any.
You have not.
Okay. Uh identifying future agenda
items.
Yes. Next month we'll again we'll have
some more events coming forward for some
funding. We'll vet those and present
those to the commission. Uh experience
Scottdale fourth quarter report. We'll
also have on the agenda and we'll keep
the commissioner comprised of any
updates. If you have any thoughts or
ideas, we can hear them now. If you'd
like to add some to the agenda or look
at a future agenda.
Okay. I think we don't have any comments
up here. Um, one thing I'd like to add
is to welcome Joe, our new commissioner.
Um, I should have done in the beginning
and I apologize, but welcome to uh the
group and we're very excited to have you
um with your extensive golf knowledge is
very important to us here in Scottsdale.
So, thank you and uh I appreciate you
giving your time.
And just one quick update just for the
commission. Uh next Tuesday, the
nominations for additional commission
members is going to city council. Uh the
appointment I believe is scheduled on
September 9th. Uh so we will have some
other commissioners joining us. I
believe it's two hotel year positions
coming on and then we have an update on
our annual report uh that will be given
to the commission from the commission uh
on September 9th as well.
Wonderful. Thank you. Yes, we look
forward to filling these seats up. So
that will be nice. At this point I will
take a motion to adjurnn.
I move to adjourn the meeting. Do
we have a second?
I second the motion.
All those in favor? I thank you all for
coming out. I appreciate it.