Riverfront Park reports more than 1 million visits, $930,000 in sponsorships after 50th Expo

John, a park staff member, told the Spokane Park Board that Riverfront Park drew more than 1,000,000 visits in 2024 and that the park’s 50th Expo programming generated substantial sponsorship and earned-revenue support.

"Overall this year, we had over a 1,000,000 visitors," John said, summarizing the department’s year-end recap. He told the board Expo-related programming from May 4 to July 4 accounted for more than 317,000 of those visitors and that the city contracted marketing produced roughly 1,600,000 accounts reached and 6,800,000 impressions.

The nut graf: Riverfront staff framed the 2024 season as a milestone year of public attendance and partnerships that combined paid marketing, private sponsorships and nonprofit support to fund events and security work. Park staff said the Expo budget for 2024 totaled $1,700,000, with roughly $930,000 raised from 39 sponsors.

In a detailed presentation, staff listed program and operations highlights. Among the items they reported:

- Expo and event metrics: 317,000 visitors during the nine-week Expo period; 117 community engagement events; 63 public events; 182 private events; and 237,000 tickets sold for attractions and performances. The park’s overall visit count exceeded ticket sales by a large margin, the staff noted.

- Marketing and audience growth: paid social marketing reached about 1.6 million accounts and produced roughly 6.8 million impressions. The park’s social accounts gained about 6,000 net followers, bringing total followers to about 68,000.

- Sponsors and budget: staff reported more than $930,000 in sponsorship revenue supporting Expo activities against a $1.7 million budget.

- Attractions and visitor services: staff introduced new retail and attractions management under Vanessa Esparaza (hired in 2024) and rolled out local discount programming (“Sky High Savings”), family skate nights and a free audio tour on the SkyRide. Staff also noted 237,000 attraction tickets sold for the year.

- Maintenance and assets: the park added an all-electric Zamboni (staff said its operational consistency is still under evaluation), replaced a carousel boiler, continued a multi-year Big Belly trash-can replacement program (15 cans this year, final year of the replacement cycle), and used Parks Foundation funds to install a security fence around the step well to reduce vandalism.

- Community support: staff said the park donated about 445 tickets to 55 nonprofit organizations—an in-kind donation they estimated at roughly $4,000—and credited dozens of community partners for supporting events.

John explained how visit counts are measured: the park has a partnership with River Park Square that provides Placer visitor-tracking reports based on a geo-fenced area; staff combine those data with event-specific counts and ticket sales to produce annual totals. "So if you just walk in and hang out there for a while, that counts as a visit," he said, noting the difference between walk-through visits and paid attraction attendance.

Board members asked clarifying questions about the public-versus-private event distinction and counting methodology; staff said event attendance is estimated or counted directly when possible and that Placer-derived geo-fence counts capture transitory and repeat visits.

Why it matters: Park staff emphasized that sponsorships, marketing reach and donated support helped make the season financially viable while also expanding public programming and outreach. Board members and staff said the visitor-growth figures inform planning for operations and for the proposed 2025 levy and partnership work with Spokane Public Schools.

The presentation closed with a staff recognition of employees and partners; staff and board members also noted several awards and community recognitions Riverfront Park received in 2024.

Ending: Staff said the department will include these highlights in the 2024 annual report and will continue to refine counting and revenue-tracking practices for 2025 programming.