The Oregon Jamboree repaid Linn County $30,000, the last of lottery funds that were loaned by the Linn County Board of Commissioners in 1995, last week.
After serious losses in 1995, members of the Sweet Home Economic Development Group Board of Directors made personal loans of a little more than $61,000 to the Jamboree to keep the event going. With those loans the Board of Commissioners agreed to loan the Jamboree an additional $50,000. That loan was to be repaid $10,000 per year.
With a successful event in 1996, the Jamboree repaid all of the personal loans and made its first $10,000 payment to Linn County. It made the next $10,000 payment in 1997.
In 1998, the Jamboree was canceled. Sweet Home Economic Development Group (SHEDG), which operates the Jamboree, struck a deal with the commissioners to postpone the payment for that year.
In 1999, the Jamboree again lost money, and again SHEDG asked for the payment to be postponed. SHEDG and the Board of Commissioners reached an agreement to base repayment of the loan on a sliding scale based on the success of the Jamboree.
Estimates for the 2000 Jamboree indicated that the event made more than $80,000 in profits, so SHEDG presented a check for the remaining $30,000 of the debt on Nov. 1.
SHEDG is estimating that the event made approximately $70,000 after the payment was made to the county, SHEDG President Jean McKinney said.
“This was a very nice surprise to get full payment,” Linn County Board of Commissioners Chairman Dave Schmidt said. “This is reflective of a huge volunteer effort that the Sweet Home community puts into this.”
The SHEDG board’s working together with former Event Manager Peter LaPonte helped make that success, Schmidt said. “I think between the personal loans that the SHEDG board made and the money loaned by the county made it possible to continue the event at that time.…
“(The Jamboree) fits very with the other things that Linn County has tried to make happen, and East Linn County with the major decline in timber supply and the impacts that brought to Sweet Home.”
Schmidt credited Sweet Home’s volunteer spirit.
He sees the same people working on the Jamboree that he sees working in many other volunteer areas, Schmidt said. “Sweet Home has a tremendous reservoir of community workers, and that’s what makes them so successful.”
“It’s very exciting especially given the fact we have $184,000 in presales for next year already,” McKinney said. “We’re finally back on our feet, going in a positive direction.”
The commissioners’ loan “meant that the Jamboree could continue,” McKinney said. “Without it, it would not have been possible to put it on. It was with great pride, gratitude and hope that I gave them that check for $30,000.”
McKinney said she is proud of the SHEDG board, the event and Sweet Home’s volunteers, who made it possible to pay back the county.
She thanked the Board of Commissioners for having faith and trusting the Jamboree.
McKinney is hopeful that “we’ll be able to something really positive for Sweet Home in the future.”
The profits from this year’s Jamboree will most likely be put into a sort of rainy day fund for the Jamboree, McKinney said. At least 5 percent will be funneled into local economic development projects, and some funds will be used to match a $30,000 grant to pay for a business recruitment and economic development coordinator.
“The original idea of the Jamboree was that it would make to money to fund economic development projects in Sweet Home,” McKinney said, but before SHEDG spends a lot of the profits, McKinney would like to see the event establish a track record with at least two profitable years in a row.
McKinney wanted to emphasize thanks to volunteers, such as Tom Albert, Mary Mansfield, Ken Collins, John Young, Debbie Cooley, Jann Horner, Max Thompson and many more who dedicated their time to the event, for their work in making the Jamboree a success.
There are too many to name them all, McKinney said. She estimated that some 50 persons have filled management team and supervisory roles throughout the years in addition to the hundreds of volunteers that work the event itself.
At this point, McKinney said she sees the Jamboree “going nowhere but up.… I would hope the event would soon start to pay off for Sweet Home.”
The Oregon Jamboree is a three-day country music and camping festival held annually in August. The event has featured artists such as Reba, Toby Keith, Charlie Daniels, Kenny Chesney and Wynonna.