CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS CONTEST ON C STREET:
- 1st=Things, Things, Things
- 2nd=Sugar Loaf Motel
- 3rd=Barrels of Candy
THERE WILL BE A MEETING ON JANUARY 3 AT 5PM TO DISCUSS THE 2019 EVENTS…ALL ARE INVITED.
ROSANNE CASH IS COMING TO VC IN MAY!
THE FERRARI HILL CLIMB IS ON FOR SEPTEMBER 2019.
PIPERS HAS HAD A BLOWOUT SEASON WITH MANY SHOWS SOLD OUT AND TURNING A PROFIT FOR THE YEAR ON EVENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME. YOU KNOW IT’S A SUCCESS WHEN SCALPERS ARE SELLING TICKETS TO YOUR SOLD OUT SHOWS.
Nicole Barde
bardeblog.com
You can find the entire meeting packet HERE.
The VCTC Board allows for public comment at the beginning of the meeting and for that, we are very grateful. If only the County Commissioners would be as respectful of peoples time.
Zach Spencer of the Comstock Chronicle and CMI reminded us that the Mining Games will be held in Virginia City on March 20 thru the 23rd 2019. It is a special event that helps fill in the “shoulder season” in VC. Lots of lodging has already been booked and Zach said that there is a lot of interest in taking tours. Board Member Corrado De Gasparis, CMI, said that there will be both historic and geologic tours to accommodate the interests. This event will have LOTS of people coming into town.
Stephen Saylor announced that the Comstock Historical Foundation received the 2018 award for “Best Non-Profit” from the Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA). He also said that NV Energy had made a substantial donation of $20,000 for the Donovan Mill visitors Center.
Sam Toll, Battle Born Digital Media and Marketing and The Storey Teller, announced that he will be the promoter for the Ferrari Hill Climb which is scheduled for September 20-22, 2019. He noted that he would be reaching out to other car clubs and expanding it to include a broader set of events, in addition to the climb, over two days.
Judy Cohen, owner of The Silver Stope, mentioned that there were very few people in town over the last few weeks. That not even the locals ( Reno/Carson) were coming up. Board member Ron Gallagher said that so far it has been a good year for skiing and that people are staying where the snow is. Katie Demuth, VCTC, also noted that there had been chain controls on Geiger Grade several days this month as well as the pogonip fog and that kept people from driving up. This time of year is always difficult due to the weather.
During the Marketing update, Ronelle Dotson noted that during the Governors Global Tourism Summit that there was great interest in VC from many of the writers and operators there …and so she accommodated that interest by bringing several of them back to VC. They were thrilled. She also demonstrated the new mobile app and how it will work with the electronic beacons that will be placed all over the town. The beacons will communicate with passing mobile devices and provide historical facts as well as push notifications on sales and special items in nearby shops.
Liquid Blue discussed some of the Special Events that were coming up at the beginning of the year. They noted that they were eliminating some of the bar crawls since they seem to be running out of steam. The Red Run event, which is a Liquid Blue event, will be eliminated because it isn’t growing in attendance altho it is one of the best performing events for them. They needed to make room for newer events which may have more of a lasting draw for the town. They are also looking to improve Christmas on the Comstock. They attended Nevada City’s Christmas festivities and came away with quite a few ideas that could be applied in VC. They felt strongly that the Christmas on the Comstock can be built to be a regional event.
Liquid Blue also invited everyone to the January 3rd Special Events meeting that they will be hosting. They will be providing information on the 2019 events, which demographics they are aimed at, the event details and the promotion plans. The location is TBD and it will be held at 5pm.
Board member Arika Perry requested that the C street events not eliminate or minimize the non-C Street establishments in their event plans. She noted that those organizations have built up their events and customers and need to be able to continue with their events.
Deny Dotson, Executive Director of the VCTC, presented the tentative event schedule for 2019. There are several new events: The Mining Games, Doc’s Real Cowboy Wild West Fest, InauguralWomen with Wheelz car show & Drag racing and Hot Camel Nights.
Alexia Sober, Canvas Cafe and Community Coalition spokesperson, gave the results of the post-mortem that the coalition did on the Community Meeting hosted by the VCTC in November. You can read it below. While the board was very appreciative for the feedback and agreed on many of the points there was also a comment that the feedback was rather blunt and that if the Board were to be as blunt in their communications that the Coalition might not appreciate it.
Community meeting postmortem
Katie Demuth announced the winners of the Christmas Lights contest on C street:
- #1=Things, Things, Things
- #2=Sugar Loaf Motel
- #3=Barrels of Candy
Whitney Brunson, Pipers Executive Director, said that the Nightmare before Christmas shows are all sold out. This show was a smashing success. So much so that she said that there were “scalpers” selling tickets to sold out shows on social media!
She listed the upcoming shows and there is more “burlesque” on the playbill in the future and they are looking at creating different types of “packages” to go along with the various performances.
She also announced that the Community Chest’s Spring fundraiser in May will be having Rosanne Cash as the headliner. Whitney says that the show is already 50% sold out. Hold the date, May 10 and get your tickets SOON!
Whitney also updated the board on the revenues for the year and Pipers has netted about $60k on shows, weddings and tours this year. This is the first time that I’ve seen Pipers make an annual profit. Altho Whitney’s salary and the building expenses are still part of the overhead, the first step to a healthy balance sheet is to have the activities/events showing a profit. Whitney has done that and I am confident that with her vision and drive and with Pipers Board support that she can continue to make a positive impact on Pipers’ budget.
Alexia Sober noted, “ When Pipers succeeds, the whole town succeeds”……..AMEN!