Bravo, Sandpoint, Bravo Successful Concert Series Breathes New Life Into Festival
Faced with waning enthusiasm and a $200,000 debt, the future of the Festival at Sandpoint was up in the air this year.
But days after finishing its two-week concert series, which included two sold-out shows, the verdict is clear.
“We landed on our feet,” said Executive Director Diane Ragsdale. “Everyone was hoping there would be a turnaround and this season surpassed everyone’s expectations. I felt we were on death’s doorstep and ended triumphant.”
Strong ticket sales and packed concerts should allow the festival to retire its debt and pay off creditors by April. Organizers haven’t finished tallying all the numbers but expect to have a few bucks left to start planning and booking acts for next year.
“What we really wanted to do was demonstrate to the community and our donors that we are responsible and the festival can work,” said board president Dave Slaughter.
“We can control how people feel about the festival and their desire to be there.”
The Doobie Brothers and blues singer John Mayall both played sold-out shows to 2,500 people. John Prine and Martina McBride had audiences that topped 2,000.
Overall the festival sold about $200,000 worth of tickets and 15,000 people came for eight shows at Memorial Field. That far outpaces last year’s dismal series that mustered only 9,000 people for 18 shows.
“This is really good news,” Ragsdale said. “The festival didn’t have too many friends left, and I’m truly grateful the sponsors came on, the volunteers came back and people bought tickets.”
The symphony concert, conducted by artistic director Gunther Schuller, also attracted a record crowd of 2,000. In the past, attendance for the symphony dipped as low as 200 people.
“There was a tremendous change in the festival from this year to last year. In my opinion the excitement was back and it is a complete turnaround,” said Sean Donnelly, president of the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association.
Donnelly is also the general manager and a partner in the Pend Oreille Brewing Company, a local restaurant and pub. He said festival-goers packed his restaurant and drew crowds downtown that weren’t seen in past years.
“People have had nothing but good things to say about the season,” he said, adding the success might spur people to donate to the festival once again.
The reason for this year’s success is hard to pinpoint. Slaughter said it was a combination of things, including good weather, a great lineup of performers, marketing and generosity from corporate sponsors.
Coldwater Creek, a mail-order catalog company based here, chipped in $100,000 alone.
Festival organizers also ended much of the community rancor about the concerts this summer. They appeased neighbors near Memorial Field by cutting back the number of shows. The city, festival and local baseball associations brokered an agreement so they could all use the field, and the city rescinded a motion to boot the festival from the venue.
“No one was bickering this year. We were all trying to figure out how we can all do well,” Slaughter said. “It was very gratifying, but we aren’t getting big heads and saying we are geniuses for what we did. We are going to have as much work to do next year as we did this year.”
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