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City-run Cheese & Wine Festival drew larger vendor participation but ended below budget
Summary
Parks and Recreation director Michael Patton reported the department ran the 2024 Cheese & Wine Festival in-house, grew vendor participation to more than 176 vendors, saw increased wine-tasting ticket sales, but recorded a net loss of $8,183 for the event.
Michael Patton, director of Parks and Recreation, told the City Council the department ran the 2024 Cheese & Wine Festival without a contractor, increased vendor participation substantially and made program changes to reduce vendor fees and shorten the event to one day, but the city recorded a budget shortfall for the event.
Patton said the department recruited more than 176 vendors in 2024 (compared with about 60–70 in 2023), sold 309 wine-tasting tickets, had 53 car-show registrants, about 10 performances across two stages, 13 sponsors, and logged 164 staff hours on the day. Total revenue was $46,434.41 and total expenditures were $54,618.34, producing a net loss of $8,183.
Patton said the department reduced vendor fees (the lowest fee was $75 for a 10-by-10 space after council approval) to encourage local businesses to participate and moved to a one-day format to ease staff workload during a busy fall event season. He said enhancements to the paid wine-tasting program drew positive feedback: some attendees described the tasting as good value compared with prior years, and several winery vendors called it "the best experience they'd had in wine tastings." Patton told the council the department procured a larger wine quantity in 2024 and expects to use the remaining supply in 2025 rather than purchasing as much anew.
Patton said staff logged many positive vendor comments about organization, vendor success, and local-business emphasis. He said improvements for 2025 will focus on earlier resource procurement, clearer role boundaries within staff and expanded volunteer recruitment to ease day-of burdens. He told the council staff intend to work toward a percentage cost-recovery target for future festivals.
Council members praised the department's execution and the improved wine-tasting experience. Patton acknowledged the high wine expense was a major driver of the budget gap and said the department will refine the 2025 forecast now that it has a full-year event baseline.
