Main Street El Dorado is taking MusicFest back to the streets this year and those who have been wondering who will headline the vintage, 2022 festival won't have to wait much longer.
With a return to MusicFest's roots, MSE is hosting an invite-only, VIP/kick-off party June 2 to announce the headliners for the festival, which is set for Oct. 7 and 8 in downtown El Dorado.
The kick-off party and announcement will also be held downtown and will follow First Thursday, a monthly shopping event that is sponsored by the Downtown Business Association to help boost foot traffic in downtown businesses.
The June installment of First Thursday is set from 4 until 7 p.m. June 2 and the MusicFest VIP party will immediately follow, with live music starting at 7 p.m.
Festival headliners will be announced at 8:30 p.m. First Thursday shoppers will have access to the party.
Preceding the announcement will be a video montage featuring scenes from MusicFest over the past three-plus decades.
During an MSE board meeting May 9, board members said the headliners had been booked and planning for the "festival" portion of the event was ongoing.
Rebuilding
MSE launched MusicFest in the late 1980s to help draw people to downtown El Dorado, which was in the midst of a transformative revitalization effort that was headed up by Richard and Vertis Mason, downtown developers and business and property owners.
For nearly 30 years, MSE solely put on MusicFest, which began as a one-day event, grew into a weekend festival and became the organization's flagship fundraiser and largest annual event in the city.
Crowds flocked to the streets of Union Square each fall for a bevy of attractions, food, craft and service vendors and live music and entertainment from local, regional and national performers.
MusicFest holds the record for the most wins for Festival of the Year, a high-profile award that is handed out each year by Arkansas Festivals and Events Association during the ALFiE (Arkansans Love Festivals and Events) Awards ceremony.
MusicFest was first named the top festival in the state for its 20th anniversary event in 2007 and proceeded to pick up Festival of the Year awards in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.
With the advent of El Dorado Festivals and Events, Inc. -- the private, nonprofit organizations that birthed MAD -- and its mission to turn El Dorado into "The Festival City of the South" by creating an entertainment district and new local economy based on concerts, festivals and theater production, the MSE board of directors agreed in 2016 to step back and allow MAD to take the lead in bringing large-scale entertainment events to El Dorado.
In 2017, MSE teamed up with MAD to present MusicFest, with MAD booking and hosting the musical entertainment in its venues and MSE handling the "festival" portion of the event with attractions, side stages, food and crafts vendors two block north on the downtown square.
The first year of the partnership in 2017 marked the 30th anniversary of MusicFest and the grand opening of MAD.
The arrangement rocked along -- save 2020 when MusicFest was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic -- until MAD announced earlier this year that it was handing the reins of MusicFest back to MSE.
Pam Griffin, MAD president and CEO, explained at the time that the decision was based on several factors, one of which was feedback from area residents.
"The community wanted the festival back on the square. We heard that feedback and we listened," Griffin said.
She said MAD is undergoing a reset and shift in direction.
"Post-COVID, MAD is focusing on ongoing events in its venues as opposed to festivals," Griffin said.
For MSE, taking MusicFest back to the streets means rebuilding the festival from scratch -- information MSE representatives relayed to the El Dorado Works Board earlier this month in an unsuccessful bid to request funding to assist with the 2022 festival.
'Gray area'
On May 10, Holly McDonald, MSE administrative assistant, and Greg Withrow, chairman of the MSE board of directors, presented a $40,000 funding request to the El Dorado Works Board, who administers the one-cent, city sales tax that is used for economic development, municipal infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.
McDonald said MSE had already raised $113,000 of its $197,000 MusicFest budget.
She told EWB members that the $40,000 would be used to rent the main stage for MusicFest, adding that the stage can accommodate larger shows and is equipped with the necessary implements for such entertainment.
"This is a one-time ask, considering we are having to rebuild from scratch, starting this year," McDonald said.
For comparison, she noted that when MSE last hosted the festival in 2016, the cost to rent the main stage and book the talent was $208,000.
When MSE agreed to the partnership with MAD, MAD assumed the ticketed events, thus the revenue, causing MSE to take a hard hit in its annual income.
"We've got to rebuild and re-work it and get it back up there but we think we have good enough entertainment lined up and other things to make it a very successful event and to stand alone next year so that we don't have to have additional help for a stage," McDonald told EWB members.
Withrow and McDonald acknowledged that the EWB favors tangible, brick-and-mortar projects that benefit the community and fit within the scope of the El Dorado Works plan.
The plan and the tax were approved by voters in 2015 and is a "living, breathing" document, community and civic leaders have said.
Revenue generated by the tax, which expires in 2025, is allocated for several categories, including community development (15%), public works (32%), economic development (15%), festival city development (12%) and construction/maintenance/non-designated (26%).
McDonald noted that MSE is charged with tourism and economic development as a part of its mission and Withrow said that any profits that are made from MusicFest, or any other MSE events, must be poured into improvement projects within the downtown/MSE footprint.
Added McDonald, "This is your benches, your murals, your sidewalks. This is landscaping -- all the things that you don't really think about."
Greg Downum, chairman of the EWB, said he had given the matter much thought and had struggled to figure out how the request fit within the El Dorado Works plan and "what precedent would our involvement in a festival-type event potentially open up?"
Downum noted recent projects for which the board approved funding, including paving and repairing the city recreational trail that encircles the Lions Club Municipal Golf Course and Union County Fairgrounds and construction of two new basketball courts in Lions Club Park, which is now located just east of the entrance into the golf course.
"You know, I think our focus has always been infrastructure, something that's going to have a longer, lasting impact ... that everyone really has access to," Downum said.
He said he felt the MSE request was a more appropriate ask for the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission.
In March, the A&P commission approved an MSE funding request of $17,709 to help promote MusicFest to a broader market in the ArkLaTex region this year.
The approval was in addition to a $42,000 award the A&P commission previously granted to help promote MSE events, including MusicFest, throughout the year.
McDonald stressed that funding from the A&P commission is to be used for advertising.
EWB board member Craig Mobley asked how much of a profit MSE anticipates to make from MusicFest 2022 and Withrow said about $24,000.
McDonald said the group expects a draw of about 6,000 people to MusicFest, noting that a single price of $40 will be charged for admission for the weekend.
She said tickets will go on sale immediately after the headliners are announced, adding that the amount falls in line with the cost of weekend passes that were available the last time MSE presented the music portion of MusicFest.
Downum asked how many tickets MSE anticipates having to sell to balance the $197,000 MusicFest budget.
"We have not looked at that because we don't want to rely on ticket sales, if possible," McDonald said.
Withrow added that the group expects to pick up more sponsors after the headliners are announced.
Downum and Mobley expressed concern that information about profit and loss projections was not available.
EWB member Sara Coffman reiterated that profits generated by MSE go into other MSE events, many of which are free to the public, and downtown improvements.
"I've sat back and said, 'Gosh, it's not tangible,' but I'm actually for this myself and you would have my vote," Coffman said.
She pointed to the success of MusicFest and the MSE program, adding that she felt that if the program was not successful or known for its work around the state, the city may not have landed the bid to be the first-time host of the Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism.
The 2023 conference will be held in El Dorado and several volunteer groups, including MSE, are working together to plan the event.
Coffman made a motion to approve the $40,000 funding request and the motion died due to the lack of a second.
Withrow said he understood that the request fell into a "gray area" regarding the El Dorado Works plan and he told Downum and Mobley that their concerns were valid.
He asked them to let MSE know if the group could do anything to advance the discussion in order for the request to be reconsidered.
He also said that since 2017, MSE has built the "festival" portion of the MusicFest and expanded attractions for children and families.
"We've been asked by to bring it back downtown by a number of people and there's an enthusiasm already out there for it," Withrow said. "So we wanted to tie that into that situation."