Committee recommends five-year contract with Traditions LLC for Henry Vilas Zoo holiday lights; staff projects strong revenue

The Dane County Public Works and Transportation Committee on June 17 recommended awarding a contract to Traditions LLC to provide holiday lights exhibit services at the Henry Vilas Zoo.

Joseph, who presented the resolution and said he authored it, described the bid process and the vendor selection. "Traditions hung strong, or they came through really strong, not only with a pricing proposal, but very modern day, sustainable lighting," he said. Joseph told the committee Traditions previously provided the service from 2021 to 2024 and was a competitive local bidder in the current RFP.

Joseph outlined revenue expectations for the exhibit: "Our ticket sales are roughly around $12 per ticket. We estimate anywhere from 30,000 ... to between 80,000 visitors. That winds up being just in ticket sales, 360,000 per year. When you look at that over the price over the over the 5 year period, it's roughly around $1,800,000. That's in gross." He also cited vendor commission (about 17% of vendor sales) and sponsorships (estimated about $20,000 per year) as additional revenue streams and said the contract cost to the zoo would be $828,000 over the contract term.

Committee members asked whether the zoo would own displays once purchased; Joseph confirmed purchased displays would become the zoos property and noted the zoo would store off-season displays and could reconstruct sponsor-specific pieces for future sponsors.

Motion to recommend approval was made by Supervisor Udell and seconded by Supervisor McCarville; the motion carried by voice vote with no opposition recorded in the transcript.

The contract award follows the countys procurement process and vendor comparison, and staff emphasized the events role as a revenue generator for the zoo and a community attraction.