TDC: Back to drawing board for Indian Summer Fest
It’s back to square one for the Indian Summer Festival.
Having terminated the final year of a three-year contract with Sound Associates Inc. of Mobile, Ala., as the event promoter, the Bay County Tourist Development Council’s marketing committee approved a motion Wednesday to create a subcommittee to work with TDC President Dan Rowe in rewriting the concept plan for the annual October event next year.
For the past few years, the TDC has underwritten the festival with a $60,000 contribution, including $50,000 in direct operating funds and another $10,000 for advertising, with the promoter responsible for investing any remaining funds and keeping all proceeds.
Committee members approved the initiative to start over from scratch after a lively discussion on the need to position the festival as a fall tourism attraction, above and beyond a local event that primarily attracts Bay County and Panhandle residents.
“Our role is to promote in-bound tourism (to Bay County), not to support a local event,” said committee member John Hamati.
Moreover, several committee members said there is a need to have local restaurants involved in touting their wares, rather than relying on out-of-town food vendors.
“We went from 19 to two local restaurants involved this year,” said committee member Jack Bishop, a local restaurateur.
The marketing committee agreed in principle the event should be reset and marketed as a tourist event.
Two key issues before the new subcommittee will be to determine the proper organizational and financial structure of the festival and to recommend how and by whom it will be carried out.
While the TDC retains ownership of the festival title, neither the council nor local tourism industry leaders have the time or resources to organize the event, several members acknowledged. When asked if the Greater Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce might be interested in managing the festival, Chamber President Debi Knight, also a marketing committee member, visibly flinched.
“That’s a major undertaking, and our plate is already full,” she said.
Chaired by Kirk Lancaster, the subcommittee members include Bishop, Joe Kennedy and Bill Spann.