With two festivals now under its belt, Main Street El Dorado is breezing through its 2023 events schedule and as the season advances, the group is looking at ways to track the number of attendees for its events.
On Saturday, the group presented May on Main, a one-day event that was launched in 2021 and is held in conjunction with the Mayhaw Festival each year.
The Mayhaw Festival is another single-day event that is presented by the South Arkansas Historical Preservation Society and paired with May on Main to provide a full day of activities for local residents and visitors.
May on Main came nearly two months after Shamrockin' on the Square, MSE's annual St. Patrick's Day celebration.
Shamrockin' was held March 11 in downtown El Dorado.
While discussing the event with the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission -- who financially supports Shamrockin' and other MSE events -- last week, Holly McDonald, MSE executive assistant, said MSE is looking into a software program to more accurately keep up with attendance at its events.
Placer.ai is a location intelligence and foot traffic software program
"Placer ... actually takes people's phones and can tell how many people there are in a certain radius," McDonald explained.
Added A&P chairman Don Miller, "A geofence."
A geofence uses GPS or radio-frequency identification (RFID) to set up a virtual perimeter of a geographic area and enable the software to trigger a response when a mobile device enters or leaves a particular area.
"We've been looking into trying to see how we can get that here in El Dorado for us because (with) most of our events being free, we don't know how many people come," said McDonald.
MSE and the A&P commission have previously discussed options to track attendees for local events.
McDonald said MSE asked Placer to review how many people were in the MSE footprint on the date and hours of Shamrockin' in 2017 and the number was 4,000.
This year, the number came in at 6,400.
"So, there's growth in that and that's just for people with phones. So, the kids ... it's not counted ... so we're going to say that we had 7,000 people in our footprint for Shamrockin' on the Square, so we think it was great," McDonald told commissioners.
McDonald noted that the MSE footprint extends from Peach Street to Hillsboro/U.S. 82-B and lies between West and Jackson avenues.
"Those are great numbers for Shamrockin' on the Sqaure. I knew it was good but I would not have expected 7,000," Miller said.
McDonald later Main Street America endorses Placer.ai and that other local Main Street programs, including Siloam Springs, have implemented the program.
She said MSE is considering partnering with other groups to purchase Placer.ai., noting that the software is expensive.
MSE is also employing another software program to compile data about properties within its 30-block footprint.
The group is reaching out to businesses in the Main Street district to enter data into the Maestro Community Manager, which helps maintain an inventory of such information as the year a building was built; the square footage; property owners and contact information; etc.
The information will help MSE comply with reports that have to be submitted to Main Street Arkansas each year.
Other events
Having wrapped up May on Main, McDonald said MSE is looking ahead to its summer events and is already planning for MusicFest 2023, which will be held Oct. 6 and 7 in downtown El Dorado.
Joanna Benson, marketing coordinator for MAD, reported that the opening of the Farmers Market at MAD was also scheduled for May 6 and that the market will be open each Saturday thereafter until October.
Benson listed some upcoming concerts and events that are planned for MAD, including performances by Tab Benoit and special guest Matt Andersen on May 19; Dylan Scott on June 2 and Dwight Yoakam on June 24.
The annual MAD Battle band competition is set for May 15 and live music is scheduled weekly and bi-weekly at MAD House 101 Restaurant and Bar, said Benson.
The MAD Splash Pad will open Memorial Day weekend and MAD Movie Monday kicks off June 5 with "Minions: The Rise of Gru."
Free movies will be shown in the MAD Amphitheater each Monday until Aug. 7. The shows will begin at sundown and concessions will be available for sale.
Pam Griffin, president and CEO of MAD, added later that MAD is working with El Dorado City Council Member Willie McGhee and former Mayor Veronica Smith-Creer on plans for a Juneteenth celebration on June 19.
Perhaps saving the best for last, Benson told commissioners that MAD plans to announce today a new show that is scheduled for September.
"We're working on more shows for the fall. Our hosted events schedule has been pretty full," Griffin said. "Even though there's not a ton of shows on the schedule, there's really not that many open weekends between now and the end of the year when you look at everything we've got going on."
Commissioner Dianna Hammond acknowledged audience member Cynthia Reyna, executive director of the South Arkansas Community College Foundation, and inquired about the 2023 SouthArk Expo, which is set for Sept. 9.
Reyna said organizers are working with MSE to refine the food-truck vendor form to ensure that the expo complies with the city ordinance regarding mobile food vendor.
The ordinance was adopted in January of 2022 after a committee made up of civic leaders, food truck operators and others vetted the matter for several months.
"Apparently, the city is taking the ordinance very seriously and so we want to comply and we don't a vendor truck, a food truck, to come and not be ready and then we have to send them away," Reyna said.
Mayor Paul Choate said the ordinance, 1892, is based on state statutes regarding mobile food vendors.
"And it's a good thing. It's for safety," Reyna added.
A&P
Miller reported that a draft of the contract-for-services for work the city performed to host the 2023 Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism has been forwarded to City Attorney Robert Rushing for review.
The conference was hosted for the first time in El Dorado on Feb. 26 - 28.
Miller and Hammond explained that the contract covers the city's portion of its partnership with the state to present the conference, including renting facilities, providing transportation, food, etc.
"So, we contracted with Main Street (El Dorado) to provide those services for us on behalf of the (organizing) committee," Hammond said.
Miller also gave the group a head's-up about an upcoming funding request to add more enhancements to the Go El Dorado website and make it more user-friendly.
New upgrades to the website went online in January.
In 2020, the A&P commission dipped into its reserve coffers to fund the first phase of the improvements at $40,000 and the first phase was completed earlier this year.
The oversight committee for the project previously said the next phase will entail enhancing capabilities for city services, including plans for a city fine/bill payment portal, a resident portal with municipal service requests, capabilities for municipal bill payments and city permit purchases and additional features.
Miller said he does not expect the work to cost as much as phase one.