Published Sunday, December 18, 2011 12:05 AM

Bryan council review of Texas Reds Festival largely positive

By MATTHEW WATKINS
matthew.watkins@theeagle.com

This year's Texas Reds Festival increased its revenue and decreased expenses from the previous year but fell about $60,000 short of the city's revenue goals.

Still, Bryan officials said the event was an overall success. And all signs point to the city hosting the Downtown Bryan festival again next year -- maybe with a few more tweaks.

The Bryan City Council expects to make a final decision on the future of the festival next month. Council members reviewed the event, which features live music, wine sampling, grape stomping and arts and craft vendors, during a workshop session last week. Several council members said they would like to see it continue. None expressed any opposition.

City estimates indicate that about 22,000 people attended the event on Oct. 7 and 8. That is less than the 30,000 prediction but still a strong turnout considering the city charged $5 admission for the first time, staff members said.

The city collected $277,690 in revenue from ticket sales, vendors fees and other food and beverage sales. The festival cost $418,941 to organize.

That left a deficit of $141,251, down from $201,199. The city's eventual goal is for the festival to be self-supporting, but organizers said before the event that they didn't expect that to happen this year.

"We did not cut into that deficit as much as we had hoped to, but we certainly did make strides forward with it," said Darrell Lovelette, parks and recreation director for the city, at the meeting. "I certainly think there is still room for improvement in that area."

Those improvements could include moving the festival to Saturday and Sunday instead of Friday and Saturday; contracting out the preparation and sale of steaks and providing better security around the premises.

"We know a lot of people probably came in without paying," Lovelette said.

Prior to the festival, many downtown businesses complained about the event, worrying that it might hurt business or take away from regular weekend traffic. Most, however, were pleasantly surprised with the results, said Cassidy Barton, executive director of the Downtown Bryan Association.

"Overwhelmingly, they said that they enjoyed the event and were happy to have it downtown," she said.

Most city officials seemed to agree.

"It was an excellent festival," said Councilman Art Hughes. "I think the results speak loudly and we are headed in the right direction."

---

Notice about comments: Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here. The Eagle is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friend's recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality, and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up!.