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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Flat Ticket Sales Threaten To Put Festival In The Red Organizers To Sell 2-For-1 Tickets Except For Mattea, Sedaka Shows

The Festival at Sandpoint already dug itself out of a $90,000 hole this summer, but lackluster tickets sales are threatening to put the organization back in debt.

The festival’s opening weekend, which featured Lou Rawls, was marred by chilly, rainy weather and concertgoers stayed away in droves.

At the same time, the festival’s attempt to book low-key, less raucous performers seems to be backfiring.

This year’s lineup, with the exception of Kathy Mattea and Neil Sedaka, has sparked little interest from the ticket-buying public.

“If we don’t get some ticket sales, it’s a doom-and-gloom picture and would make surviving into next year that much more difficult,” festival Executive Director Ron Wasson said.

“It’s tight right now and in order to make sure we survive we need people to come out and buy tickets.”

Ticket sales account for about 45 percent of the festival’s nearly $800,000 budget. Lou Rawls’ performance last Friday sold only 871 tickets. The Brian Setzer Orchestra fared even worse with 505 tickets sold, while the Spokane Symphony show on Saturday sold only 305 tickets.

The sales are so bad Wasson said some concerts this year may be canceled. The Christian band Midsouth performs next week but only 62 tickets have been sold.

“It is an option to cancel concerts. We are going to have to look at that,” Wasson said. “We don’t know if people are choosing to go to the Gorge or Silver Mountain or waiting to see if the weather will be nice. We just don’t know.”

The festival board, artistic director Gunther Schuller and Wasson all met this week to figure out a way to salvage the season. The plan now is to sell two tickets for the price of one to all shows except Mattea and Sedaka.

“We hope this is a good incentive for people to make the commitment in advance to buy tickets,” Wasson said.

The festival also passed the hat for donations at the free family concert Wednesday night hoping to bring in a few extra dollars.

Part of the problem this year, Wasson said, is the bevy of concerts being offered at the Gorge, Silver Mountain and the Spokane Arena. This weekend, for example, the Gorge will have Styx and Kansas and Silver Mountain booked Merle Haggard. The show will clash with Mattea and a symphony performance at the festival.

“We feel we offer a unique experience, but people have so many choices now and have a limited amount of money to spend,” Wasson said.

This year the festival also chose to save money by not using other ticket outlets such as G&B Select-A-Seat. Instead the festival has its own 800 number and handled its own sales.

“It probably did impact us some, but it’s hard to quantify. It was an extra hurdle for people to find our number and call,” Wasson said.

Festival organizers plan to meet again this weekend to check sales and decide if any concerts will be canceled. If the sales don’t improve, Wasson said it will mean a more limited season next year and another revamp of the lineup.

“We are very concerned,” Wasson said. “We don’t want to be in the same position we were last year, owing people money and having lackluster sales. But as the saying goes, that’s show business.”

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