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THIS AN OPEN LETTER TO THE LOCAL CAR ENTHUSITS ABOUT THE RUMORS
SURROUNDING THE BUGGIN STATE STREET EVENT!
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Annette:
Thank you for reaching out and calling me for “our side” of the
Buggin State event. While some may disagree, we did try to secure
sponsorships and have continually tried to assess ways to hold the
event at a breakeven point. I can assure you that our organization
does not make money at any event we organize, however we do have a
policy that states that we need to at a minimum have our costs
covered prior to scheduling an event.
I have attached a letter that was sent to the Erie Times News editor
and subsequently printed. This gives some of the basic information
regarding our decision making process and the need for us to juggle
the needs of all of our members (members are the property owners and
businesses between Holland and Sassafras Streets and from 14th
Street to the Bay). I hope this will be the beginning of an open
dialog between those car enthusiasts and our organization.
Please feel free to post this as well as any portion of our phone
conversation. If you or any of your “followers” are interested in
further dialog, please feel free to have them call or e-mail me with
questions. If would like me to write a specific piece or do
something almost like a written interview where I answer some of
your questions for you to post, please give me a call.
Thank you for the opportunity to straighten out some of the rumors
that are buzzing around the car community.
Brenda A. Sandberg, CEO
Erie Downtown Partnership
515 State Street
Erie PA 16501
(814) 455-3743
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FACTS ABOUT THE BUGGIN STATE STREET RUMORS!
Dear Cruisers and Car Enthusiasts,
Lately it seems at every event we attend someone comes up to me and
wants to know, “ what is up with the Buggin State Street Event? “
Countless rumors have been flying around about the future of these
events. And the interest to keep this event going is strong. Because
of this I decided to go the source and try to get answers.
This letter is to you the cruisers and supporters of the Calling All
Rodders website, it is only intended to be an informational letter
for you. NOT the opinion or decisions of Annette Diemer, or Calling
All Rodders. We only wanted to get some of the facts out to you and
open a line of communication between you and the Buggin State Street
organizers.
This week, I spoke to Brenda Sandberg, CEO of the Erie Downtown
Partnership. For those of you who do not know, The Erie Downtown
Partnership is an organization that is made up of property owners
and business owners from Holland Street to Sassafras Street and 14th
Street to the Bay in the downtown area.
At this point, I have added the letter sent to the Erie Times News
by Brenda explaining their policies, earlier in the year, for you to
read…
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During the summer, the Erie Downtown Partnership organizes many
weekly downtown events including Block Parties, Bike Nights and the
Classic Car Buggin’ State. This is the Partnership’s most public
face.
We are always evaluating what services we provide and how
effectively they are provided. As a membership based organization,
we must first look to see if we are satisfying the needs of our
members. The latest event evaluation really led the Board of
Directors to reflect not on the implementation of the event, but the
reason behind having them. We asked ourselves “How do these events
benefit our membership”? The answer is complicated, for some members
the event brings an influx of people and spending to their door and
for others it neither helps nor does it hurt them. Finally, for some
members, the event is seen as a detriment because the streets are
closed and their customers or clients cannot easily access the
products and services they offer. Those members often argue “would
you want to locate your business on a street that closes 10+ times a
year”?
We determined that these events are vital to bring people who may
not otherwise come downtown to showcase our area as being clean,
safe and fun. Secondly, we realized that it was important to bring
them to the downtown on a night in which it was not typically busy.
This second goal is much more difficult to accomplish. In creating
our 2010 calendar we made every effort to schedule around events
being held at Jerry Uht Park, the Warner Theater, the Erie
Playhouse, Gannon University, and Gallery Night just to name a few.
Add to that the thought that most people will go out for the evening
on a Friday or Saturday and the dates become more limited.
It is wonderful that downtown has so much to offer! This is exactly
the activity the Erie Downtown Partnership is trying to reinforce on
a daily basis. However, in an attempt to balance the goals of an
event and the needs of all of our members, the Summer of 2010 event
season will have a few changes. We have made a slight reduction in
the number of events we will be holding and we have moved our Bike
Nights to Thursday nights.
We are looking forward to a busy summer season which begins with a
Bike Night on Thursday May 20th. Thursday night is the night to come
downtown with events each and every Thursday from June 17th to
September 9th . We hope you stop in for a visit, maybe you will find
a store or restaurant that will become your new favorite!
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Some points of this letter addressed by Brenda were :
1. The reduction in Buggin State Street Events.
Answer : Due to cost and no sponsorship. Also, the problem of trying
to work around other scheduled events in the downtown area. Such as
events held at the Jerry Uht Park, Warner Theater, Erie, Playhouse
and Gannon University.
2. The Cost of sponsorship for the Buggin State Street Events and
the response for sponsors.
Many local businesses were approached for sponsorship along with
local car dealerships, there was not enough response to fund the
event. The changing of the event night also hindered the sponsorship
as they did not want to sponsor it on any night but Friday.
Answer: This event needs to have a sponsorship of $3000.00 to go on.
A sponsor will be added to all advertising material for the event.
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Here is a break down of the estimated cost of the event:
Estimated Event Expenses
These costs are per event held not cumulative
Buggin’ State:
Advertising -
Television $350.00
Radio $350.00
Print $275.00
Children’s Activities $600.00
Porta Potty $375.00
Permit Fees (inc Officers) $925.00
Misc (trash bags, water, etc) $ 75.00
TOTAL $2,950.00
In the past, this has covered our external costs of the event. We
never expect nor ask for us to recoup our time or clean-up resources
that the Erie Downtown Partnership incurs with organization and
implementation of this or any other event.
Please feel free to share this information with any potential
sponsors. Let’s hope 2011 is better than 2010!
Brenda A. Sandberg, CEO
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One solution that was requested by the cruisers, was to charge each
car a minimal fee for entrance.
Answer: The Problem with this is there is no one point of access for
the event and would be impossible to get to every participant in the
show.
3.Why they want to move the event from Friday night (a rumor that
has been flying around).
Answer: The purpose of these downtown events is to bring business to
the area that would not normally be there. The partnership owners
feel that the Friday night is normally busy so they would like this
event held on another less busy night to draw in business for their
slower nights. As this is the purpose of the Downtown Partnership,
to help draw business to the downtown area.
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From Annette @ Calling All Rodders Response:
In response to this, I can say that the cruisers in the area have
expressed to me this, “By moving it to a week night you will lose a
lot of the out of down guests that come to the city JUST for the
Buggin State Street Event. Many families tell me that they plan
their vacations and family reunions or get togethers around this
event because it is on a weekend. We get people coming to see our
cars or show off theirs from as far away as Ohio, New York
Pittsburgh, Sharon, or West Virginia. Even many of our local
cruisers come in from more than 30 miles away they do not want to
try and drive back on a weeknight and have to go to work the next
morning. This is big event for many people who have moved out of the
area and love coming BACK to Erie to reminisce about the days of
Buggin State Street. Talk to anyone from the area and they have a
story about Buggin State Street in their younger days! This is a
great event that brings tourist into the area sometimes for the
entire weekend as well as bringing business to the downtown area.”
If you have anything you would like us to pass on to Brenda
Sandberg, CEO of The Erie Downtown Partnership Organization. You can
send me an email at annette@callingallrodders.com and we will
forward them on to Brenda or you may contact her directly at:
Brenda Sandberg, CEO
Erie Downtown Partnership
515 State Street
Erie, PA 16501
814-455-3743
In Conclusion, again this letter to you the cruisers and supporters
of the Calling All Rodders website, is only intended to be an
information letter for you not the opinion or decisions of Annette
Diemer, or Calling All Rodders. We only wanted to get some of the
facts out to you and open a line of communication between you and
the Buggin State Street organizers. Maybe together we can get this
event to continue.
I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion with this event.
Sincerely ,
Annette Diemer, CEO
Calling All Rodders
www.callingallrodders.com
annette@callingallrodders.com
See ya at the next car evet!
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