HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-06-28 - MinutesFayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission
Minutes from June 28, 2021
Fayetteville Town Center
Commissioners Katherine Kinney, Chair, Chrissy Sanderson, Elvis Moya,
Present: Sarah Bunch, Todd Martin
Commissioners Andrew Prysby and Matthew Petty
Absent:
Staff:
Molly Rawn, Chief Executive Officer; Jennifer Walker, Vice President of
Finance; and Hazel Hernandez, Vice President of Marketing and
Communications
Chairperson Kinney called the meeting to order at 2:01 p.m.
Old Business
A. Commissioner Bunch motioned to approve the May 2021 minutes with
Commissioner Moya seconding. The minutes were unanimously approved.
III. New Business
A. CEO Report, Molly Rawn
Hotel occupancy up 74% in May 2021 versus May 2020 and is up 20% YTD
compared to 2020. Restaurant collections for May have nearly doubled from
last year.
April was a good month for Fayetteville with 13 home Razorback baseball
games. This HMR data does not include regionals or super regionals but does
capture the Oz Trails Pro Cup presented by Experience Fayetteville.
Visitors in Visitors Center: 685 for May, which is down from 2018, however, at
the end of May we opened back up on Saturdays. We sold more than $1,000
in Pride merchandise in May; all of these sales will go to NWA Equality.
Additionally, we've heard estimates of 22,000 people at the Pride Parade. Our
sales team, Tina and Julie, brought Lace, Grace and Gears, a women's
motorcycle event, to Drake Field.
The Fayetteville Town Center hosted 27 meetings/events in May. We continue
to operate at 2/3 capacity for events and hope to offer you a sneak peek at our
next meeting of some ballroom renovations.
Two full time openings at Fayetteville Town Center have been filled. Griffin
Stroupe has been hired to be our Sales Manager and Madison Hurley is
serving as our Event Services Manager. The town center has many events
scheduled for the fourth quarter.
Upcoming events: We are partnering with Latinas en Bici for the Tour de
Frida, a cycling event on July 17 to honor Frida Kahlo's life and the
anniversary of her passing. The route goes along many pieces of public art.
The Joe Martin Stage Race and Experience Fayetteville Criterium is August
26t" to 29' and the Spartan Trail Running Championship is October 31st
Commissioner Moya asked when we planned to go back to full capacity events
at the town center. Rawn answered we currently have the ability to do so, but
the events being booked are below our full capacity. We continue to evaluate
booking requests as they come in.
B. Financial Report, Jennifer Walker, Vice President of Finance
Our target for budget is 42% for the end of May. Our revenues are at 39% and
expenditures are at 35%.
Looking more specifically at HMR tax revenue, we are exceeding our YTD
budget by 1 %. On our balance sheet, you will see that cash and investments
are just over three million dollars.
We have now expended all of our PPP funds, with a breakdown included in
the meeting packet. We are working on the loan forgiveness application and
might have that for commission's review at an upcoming meeting.
C. Marketing Report presented by Hazel Hernandez, Vice President of Marketing
and Communications
Through May our website numbers are up significantly from last year.
Especially our landing page views, up 107% which shows the efforts of our
increased advertising.
Interesting website traffic trends: 89% of traffic to the website are new visitors,
with increasing percentages of international site visitors. This is to be
expected as cyclo-cross is very popular in Europe.
Hernandez showed the top content draws from our website thus far with
/visitfayetteville being the highest, followed by /46-things-to-do, /guide,
/experience/events and then /eat.
We served 56,000 paid search impressions in May with 5,358 clicks to the
Experience Fayetteville website, for an overall CTR of 9.5%. Top search
phrase was "Festivals Fayetteville."
D. Vote. Approving a quote from Multi -Craft Contractors for replacement of a
Town Center roof top HVAC unit.
Rawn shared that we've been working since 2017 to replace each of the 7
RTUs at the town center and are on track to do that. The quote of $45,760 is
from Multi -Craft Contractors. As the commission approved a maintenance
contract with MCC, giving us competitive pricing, we do not seek multiple bids.
Commissioner Moya made a motion to accept the bid with Commissioner
Martin seconding it. It passed unanimously.
E. Presentation on the Dickson Street Art Court from Jordan Garner, Tyson
Family Foundation
Rawn introduced Jordan Garner to discuss the 227 Dickson Street art project,
formerly known as the Dickson Street Theater. Garner showed a picture of the
outside and the inside, stated that this is an adaptive use project, utilizing
existing elements when possible to create an experience for the public.
Garner stated that they are asking to enter into a three-year partnership with
Experience Fayetteville on this project to attract even more people to
downtown.
Rawn continued the discussion by commending Garner and the foundation for
doing this project. This yet -to -be named space will be a short-term basketball
space with Experience Fayetteville providing daily maintenance, oversight, and
promotion. As the city looks to do more programming in the Cultural Arts
Corridor space, this is a good test to see what works and how it works. We
have found that people are looking for outdoor activity space. Rawn asked for
questions.
Commissioner Bunch asked how the building's structure would be changed.
Rawn said that three walls would remain with the front wall being open and the
front courtyard will be completely redone. Commissioner Moya asked about
the open-air concept as it relates to how security will be handed. Rawn
answered that we intend to have a gate to secure it and do not plan for it to be
open all night. Commissioner Bunch asked Jordan Garner how the concept
was decided upon. Garner replied that this idea came up from the Project
Public Spaces conference and referenced the Pigalle basketball court in Paris.
Commissioner Moya asked if Rawn envisioned new staff members coming on
board. Rawn answered that it may create opportunities for more part time or
contract team, but not additional full time.
Commissioner Sanderson asked what the completion timeline is with the
answer being hopefully this fall. Rawn continued that this will open as a
space that is not formally programmed; she wants to see how the space
is used before we layer in anything more formal like reservations or
events.
F. Vote to accept a grant for $236,566 from the Tyson Family Foundation
over a three-year period to support communications and operations of the
space. Experience Fayetteville is asking the commission for permission
to accept the funds so that we can go forward with planning, marketing
and working with the partners on this project.
Commissioner Bunch made a motion for Experience Fayetteville to
accept the funds for the intended use and Commissioner Moya seconded
it, it passed unanimously via a roll call vote.
G. CEO Rawn closed out the meeting with an announcement that she has been
asked to chair a subcommittee of the city's Economic Recovery and Vitality
Steering Committee which will focus on revitalization of the hospitality
industry. She and Tyler Wilson are assembling a group to talk about pertinent
issues, including third party restaurant delivery providers. Commissioner
Sanderson is on the steering committee and Rawn plans to ask
Commissioner Martin for input.
H. Commissioner Kinney adjourned the meeting at 2:37pm.
Minutes submitted by Amy Stockton, Director of Operations, Experience Fayetteville.