The Sweet Home Economic Development Group started two decades ago as a grassroots effort to boost the community’s economic situation by putting on a summer country music/camping festival.
That was the beginning of an impressive achievement that started with some very out-of-the-box thinking in a town that, after living well off forestland resources for many decades, had fallen on hard times. Some enterprising local ladies came up with the idea of putting on a country music festival to bring visitors to town and, hopefully, raise some cash to help get Sweet Home back on its feet.
As we all know, it was remarkably successful, though it took some financial investment from local folks in the early years to keep it alive. It’s been so successful, though, that others took notice and the almost inevitable copycat challenge has arisen, down the road in Brownsville.
SHEDG has evolved over the years, as its leaders have come and gone. It has put on 19 Jamborees, and, even though the event now has paid staff members who coordinate all the pieces, it still is very much a volunteer-driven enterprise.
The nonprofit organization is led by a board of 11 members, who are elected by membrs, community residents who pay $10 a year for memberships in SHEDG ($5 if you’re under 18 or 65 and older). Currently, SHEDG’s total membership numbers about 45. In addition to the board, SHEDG has seven paid staffers – some of them part-time – five to organize the country music festival and other performances, and two who work in economic development efforts.
SHEDG’s stated mission is “to effectively lead efforts to enhance and promote thriving, diverse economic development in the Sweet Home community.”
It does that by staging money-making enterprises, right now the Jamboree, and using the profits to boost economic redevelopment and general welfare in the community through the efforts of its economic development director, Brian Hoffman, and the Sweet Home Community Foundation, which was formed by SHEDG to disperse profits to the people of Sweet Home.
The results are evident. From last year’s festival, benefits to the community included a total of $255,000 in revenue – rental payments to the school district, funding for economic development, profits made by local organizations during last year’s festival, such as service organizations’ and PTC groups’ vending activities ($38,181).
High school athletic teams, music programs and clubs raised $23,023 from the sale of soft drinks, water, showers, parking and ice as well as bottle recycling during last year’s Jamboree. SHEDG paid $19,288 to the city of Sweet Home for police services and the use of city property and $6,338 to the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance for on-site paramedics. Local churches raised some $6,500 for parking and camping.
In addition to the under-the-radar nature of much of redevelopment work, SHEDG provided $27,587 to the Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort (SHARE) to help support the downtown building façade improvements, community events and mural refurbishment.
SHEDG is an unusual organization in what it has accomplished. But, as its leaders have stated frequently over the past few years with the rise of the Willamette Country Music Festival in Brownsville, it faces severe challenges because SHEDG, a grassroots, nonprofit organization, can’t match the big corporate bucks that have flowed into promotion for the competition.
But there’s another challenge, we think. Amid these pressures, SHEDG needs to remember what it is and whom it represents. And so do Sweet Home’s citizens.
We say that because SHEDG represents Sweet Home. As an organization that needs to be closely tied to its community, we believe SHEDG should continue to operate similar to a government entity in the way it represents its public, which is why we’ve encouraged the board over the years to be open in its deliberations, following the same general guidelines that a government body would, and allow the public and the press to be present as it does business.
Until recently, that’s been the case. But with the threat of competition down the road, the board has begun closing much of its business to the public, holding deliberations in what would be, in government terms, executive session, which means that discussions and actions can’t be attended by the general public or reported by the press.
One noticeable result of this is the silence regarding the financial outcome of the last Jamboree. When SHEDG released the numbers we noted above regarding the revenue that has flowed back to the community from the Jamboree, it didn’t release any information about its profits – or lack thereof. So volunteers and the people of Sweet Home have no idea whether last year’s festival made money or finished in the red.
We understand that the playing field has changed, but SHEDG is still a community organization and it needs to interact as such with its community.
When folks notice that no donation amount to the Sweet Home Foundation is announced at the Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet, as it usually is, people wonder what’s going on.
So why talk about this now? Well, SHEDG is holding its annual board election meeting on Wednesday, March 14. Five seats are open, for which there are 10 nominees. (See page 7 for more details).
The members who show up will vote to fill those seats. Those who are elected will help guide SHEDG through the next year.
If the people of Sweet Home have an interest in the future of the Jamboree and, by extension, the future of our community, they need to get involved in SHEDG. If people simply want to enjoy country music at the Jamboree by buying tickets or volunteering at the event, that’s their choice. But we don’t think lack of public participation is necessarily good for SHEDG or the community.
People who care about the Jamboree’s future, and other efforts SHEDG may be involved in down the road to boost Sweet Home’s economic fortunes, need to get plugged in.
The board and the professional staff will still call the shots on the ground level, but the people of Sweet Home who care need to take an active interest in SHEDG– and they can.
Stop by the SHEDG office at 401 Main St. and pick up an application, pay your $10 (or $5) and do the deed. Or, you can download an application at http://www.sweethomeoregon.org/membership-app.htm.
Get involved.