Colfax organizers push public voting campaign to win Levitt Foundation concert grant

Erin Newington, president of the Historic Colfax Downtown Association, asked city officials and residents on Aug. 19 to help mobilize votes and local support after Colfax advanced to the top 100 finalists for a Levitt Foundation grant that could bring up to $120,000 in matched funds over three years to support professional outdoor concerts.

The Levitt Foundation program advances communities through a public voting round; Newington said the public voting window is Sept. 6–15 and finalists will be notified of award decisions in November. "We made it into the top 100," Newington told the council and meeting attendees, adding that the grant would allow seven to 10 professional concerts in Colfax each year if the city wins and completes the required match.

The application Newington submitted included a budget and a plan for raising the required match funds, she said. According to Newington, an average concert in her budget is projected to cost $10,000–$12,000; the Levitt award would cover roughly half the cost and the local match would need to cover the remainder. She said the association expects to meet the match through a mix of sponsorships, other grants, vendor fees and beer-garden proceeds and that the group already has a small fundraising campaign under way.

Newington outlined a four-stage outreach plan the association calls "RockTheVoteColfax," which includes a preregistration page to build a list of likely voters, banners and QR codes around town, a possible billboard, targeted social-media buys, outreach to Placer County offices and local chambers, youth and school engagement (noting that voters must be 13 or older to register), and short, music-focused events timed to encourage on-the-spot voting.

City staff and attendees offered practical notes about permits and logistics during the workshop. A city representative said the city controls four billboard slots and that rotation space is limited; Newington said she had already submitted a graphic and that a billboard, if available, would be part of the publicity push. City staff also noted that events on public property require permits, insurance and, depending on activities, food and alcohol permits; a Placer County food-permit fee for large events was cited as roughly $500, and a billboard rotation fee and small graphic cost were discussed as modest (a $100 rotation fee and an estimated $70 for graphic work were mentioned in the meeting).

Organizers discussed lower-cost ways to obtain the match and build turnout, including leveraging local bands and volunteers, producing limited-run T-shirts, arranging pop-up performances at existing events such as the farmers market and Railroad Days, and asking neighboring jurisdictions and chambers to spread the word. Newington said she plans weekly planning meetings to coordinate volunteers and outreach during the voting window.

Newington also cited a few program rules she read in Levitt materials: the program targets communities under 250,000 residents, finalist cities are generally spaced apart geographically (applications suggested finalists usually are not within about 75 miles of each other), and the public voting submission rules limit how votes are allocated (voting requires registration, a minimum voter age and a one-vote-per-location constraint explained to attendees).

Resident Harry Anderson and other attendees supported the idea of rotating events in the downtown space rather than a single annual event, a plan Newington said is already being incorporated into scheduling. Newington encouraged anyone with ideas or volunteer time to sign up through the association's website and to contact her via email at visithistoricolfax.com (as given during the meeting).

Next steps: public voting Sept. 6–15; Levitt Foundation decisions expected in November. Organizers and city staff will continue discussions on signage, permitting, event insurance and logistics before the voting period begins.