Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The first sold-out Jamboree will net up to $325,000, Event Manager Peter LaPonte announced last week.
“This is going to be our best year ever,” he said. The event, held the first weekend of August was the first time the Jamboree ever sold out, with upward of 10,000 concertgoers per day.
The 2005 event netted about $250,000.
“The thing about the festival, all the profit is in the last 28 percent of the (show),” LaPonte said. Larger crowds don’t cost that much extra. The Jamboree has already spent money on the talent, the stage and other parts of the show and those don’t change with crowd sizes. The expenses for a crowd of 12,000 versus a crowd of 7,000 are not much higher.
After a certain point, everything the Jamboree sells just goes to the bottom line, he said. Adding another 2,000 attendance would dramatically increase the show’s proceeds.
“That’s why we’re trying to gain additional grounds,” LaPonte said. The event could produce even more revenue and run even larger projects.
Sweet Home Economic Development Group, which owns the Jamboree, recently completed a study considering a property purchase.
The state’s Economic Development Small Business Department kicked in $30,000 of the study, LaPonte said. SHEDG paid the remainder.
What the study talked “about generally was whether it was feasible for us to make a major investment in property,” he said. But moving the Jamboree won’t happen next year or the year after that. The Jamboree recently completed a contract for three more years with School District 55 to continue using the community field south of the high school.
Based on the Jamboree’s financial records and business model, a property purchase is doable, LaPonte said. The Jamboree could make the purchase, survive and grow.
The study examined factors including debt service, infrastructure costs, architectural fees and drawings and site development expenses over time.
The only debt that LaPonte would like to incur is property acquisition, which will also require a down payment, he said. Once the Jamboree has acquired property and can manage the debt service, it will start with the basic improvements, like landscaping and utilities. From there, it can move on to permanent structures, like restrooms.
“The site would not just be for the Jamboree,” LaPonte said. Part of the plan is to build something where many different events can happen, or the facility could be rented by other promoters.
“The decision to (expand and develop new property) hasn’t been made,” LaPonte said. “We’re looking at growth 10 years from now.”
That may mean purchasing property now, while Sweet Home still has some large parcels of land available, he said. The Country Fair in Veneta purchased property 20 years ago. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t be around any more.
The Jamboree could continue what it is doing now and turning a net profit, the safe approach; or it can take a risk, purchase property and expand for larger profits based on larger crowd sizes.
Deciding whether to expand the Jamboree now or in the future is something the board is still deciding, LaPonte said. “That board is on the hot seat about staying safe or growing.”
The feasibility study is 150 pages long, and it will take time to digest the information, LaPonte said.
While this is going on, the board also will still need to decide what to do with the 2006 proceeds.
In recent years, SHEDG donates 10 percent of Jamboree proceeds to the Community Foundation, LaPonte said. It also has included a downtown revitalization piece in its budget. The board is also considering what to do with its vacant economic development coordinator position. In the interim, SHEDG has hired a part-time administrative position to handle some of the duties.
Until the property issue is clarified, he does not expect the board to go out and start new initiatives, he said. Acquiring property will require major liquid assets.
For the 2007 year, the Jamboree has yet to announce a headliner, but LaPonte thinks he will most likely be able to announce several acts by mid-January.