Listening to City Council members’ responses last week to this year’s Oregon Jamboree (page 1), held nearly two months ago, we’re reminded how easy it is to forget the benefits the country music festival brings to Sweet Home.
We also think we detect some need for better communication between the Jamboree and Sweet Home in general – its government and its residents. We frequently hear from the latter about how they wonder what’s going on at “The Jamboree.”
When we think of the Oregon Jamboree, it’s easy to recall all that traffic, the lines in the grocery stores, the noise, the street closures, the park closures, the alcohol-fueled whoops and hollers late at night on the streets.
For anyone who didn’t actually attend the festival, and certainly those who aren’t into country music, it might be easy to ask what’s in it for them.
Those issues weren’t really the line of questioning from councilors, but some did seem perturbed by the closure of Sankey Park for nearly a week surrounding the event, and the fact that, with the city now in control of the Knife River property, which the Jamboree would like to use next year for camping, there’d better be some come-uppance.
We appreciate the fact that councilors are looking out for the interests of city residents. That’s their job. But it seems to us there’s a breakdown somewhere when City Council members, of all people, don’t recognize how the Jamboree benefits the city – all of us.
Actually, we think it’s a challenge that the Sweet Home Economic Development Group, which puts on the Jamboree, needs to acknowledge and step up to.
SHEDG essentially represents all of us because its sole reason for existence is to generate income for economic development in Sweet Home – as its name states. The Jamboree has been the main vehicle for SHEDG, over the years, to generate that income.
One of the challenges SHEDG has faced over the years is a tendency by its leadership to retreat into a sort of cocoon-like relationship – or lack thereof, with the community they represent – us. This has come up before, and there have been ebbs and flows. They’ve been more forthcoming at times.
It’s very important for SHEDG to be open and to connect with the Sweet Home population because SHEDG is not a typical nonprofit, created to hand out money or save cats or something along those lines.Its sole purpose for existence is to generate funds to boost Sweet Home’s economy.
The Jamboree is Sweet Home’s baby, even though it is managed by the board members and paid staff. The festival is vitally dependent on support from the community and from the volunteers who make it happen.
Although the Jamboree is very generous with tickets and more for local fund-raising efforts, which we should all appreciate, and has plenty to say about the entertainment, there’s little outreach otherwise.
When interested local residents, even those who have paid the annual fee to be “SHEDG members” go to board meetings, there are a few minutes of pleasantries, then the board retreats to talk about what’s really going on – in private.
That doesn’t sit well with people who are actually interested in SHEDG’s and the Jamboree’s well-being – which all Sweet Home residents should be.
Financial reports of how the Jamboree (and SHEDG) is doing are generally only available to us, the public, by waiting for delayed IRS 990 forms, which SHEDG is legally required to generate and which are public records, available to any interested reader. They don’t tell us much, but they tell us more than SHEDG has.
When SHEDG isn’t communicating and letting the public know what’s going on, it’s only hurting itself.
That was pretty evident at the council meeting. The Jamboree contributes tens of thousands of dollars every year to our community, either directly or indirectly.
Our story cites a SHEDG report that detailed outlays into the Sweet Home community for the 2017 festival, as well as some round numbers for this year’s Jamboree.
Who benefited last year? The School District and its students collected well over $50,000 over the three-day festival in direct payments or fund-raising activities – and that’s a conservative figure. Churches, local clubs, the Boys and Girls Club, the Senior Center, Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District volunteers, Sunshine Industries, and the city, not to mention all the people who made money selling groceries and other goods, parking spots, knick-knacks, snacks, lemonade and other food and drink.
The Jamboree estimates its contribution to the local economy to be $120,000 to $144,000 annually.
Yes, the city has provided a few services for the Jamboree for free over the years, but we don’t really see that as a red flag. It’s a relatively small amount measured against either the Jamboree and the city’s budget.
Again, the city is us and the Jamboree is our community’s production, ultimately providing quite a bit of benefit for all of us – something city official who might want to nitpick an arrangement that seems to have worked effectively for many years, would do well to remember.
SHEDG leaders would do well to tell us what the bottom line is looking like after years of deficit spending – soon, instead of a year from now when we dig up that Form 990 information.
Also, what’s SHEDG’s strategy for the Jamboree? The lineup this year looked a lot different from previous years – and so did the crowd, but there were still a lot of people there. Saving money on talent and living with some reduced numbers of fans might be a brilliant strategy. We don’t know.
What’s SHEDG’s vision of its role for economic development? Short-term goals? Long-term?
While we’re pointing out some areas in which we think SHEDG could improve its community relations and its role in Sweet Home, we all need to remember that this is a pretty amazing organization. We need to appreciate the immense volunteer effort that makes it happen, both at the board level and on the ground.
This giant country music festival, put on in a small town, has been going for a quarter century. That’s a lot. There’s no question that the Jamboree is a valuable asset in our community and we need to support it.
While accounting and checks and balances are necessary, our city leaders should remain as generous as possible in facilitating the operation of an event that costs them little, but funnels tens of thousands of dollars into our community.