Taste of Ocala goes upscale (Sanford, Century: rentals, insurance, buy)

[kshe95girl]

In a downmarket economy the folks putting on this event decide to triple the price of a ticket and make it "exclusive"?
Really?
The 24th Taste of Ocala will be a black tie-optional event on May 5 inside the Ewers Century Center. | Ocala.com

[kyle19125]

It's a fundraiser, so they're trying to make more money because the economy is down and contributions to the scholarship fund are likely down as well. It's not about the general public.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

It's a fundraiser, so they're trying to make more money because the economy is down and contributions to the scholarship fund are likely down as well. It's not about the general public.

Its always been accesible to the general public in the past, with a ticket price of about $30, not to mention the thousands of people that always have looked forward to this event.
One would think that they would have done this when the economy was flush.
Just shows us here in Ocala that whomever made these decisions is not in touch with the reality of what is happening here.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

Just shows us here in Ocala that whomever made these decisions is not in touch with the reality of what is happening here.

One could make the argument that they are...

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

One could make the argument that they are...

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

The economy is bad and they're trying to drum up even more money through a more exclusive event. Charities do this all the time and it's quite lucrative. The rich and successful like to rub elbows with one another, like it or not.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

The economy is bad and they're trying to drum up even more money through a more exclusive event. Charities do this all the time and it's quite lucrative. The rich and successful like to rub elbows with one another, like it or not.

If they want to make more $, they should have left this event as it was.
Affordable and 4k people attending>exclusive and 300 attending, maybe?
I would bet money the tickets dont even sell out.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

If they want to make more $, they should have left this event as it was.
Affordable and 4k people attending>exclusive and 300 attending, maybe?
I would bet money the tickets dont even sell out.

From the article:

Essentially, they want to cut some costs — such as tent rental, complimentary tickets and such — of producing the Taste outdoors at an everyman price.
Since 2007, the Taste of Ocala has been four hours on a Sunday afternoon; attendance has averaged between 1,500 and 3,000, according to various estimates.
"What they didn't realize was that more than half of them were there for free," Weaver added.

If you have mobs of people (many of whom who haven't paid a dime) at a fundraiser scarfing down food samples and not donating a lot (or anything), tell me how that's supposed to be an attractive proposition for a charity fundraiser...??? Geez!

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

From the article:

Essentially, they want to cut some costs — such as tent rental, complimentary tickets and such — of producing the Taste outdoors at an everyman price.
Since 2007, the Taste of Ocala has been four hours on a Sunday afternoon; attendance has averaged between 1,500 and 3,000, according to various estimates.
"What they didn't realize was that more than half of them were there for free," Weaver added.

If you have mobs of people (many of whom who haven't paid a dime) at a fundraiser scarfing down food samples and not donating a lot (or anything), tell me how that's supposed to be an attractive proposition for a charity fundraiser...??? Geez!

You know, it was just pointed out to me by another poster from Ocala that you really dont know what you are talking about.
You live in Sanford, right?
Let me parse this out for you.
TOO made 90k 2 years ago.....the max they can make at this event this year is 30k.
Even discounting tent rentals and comp tickets, the way they were doing it before has it all over the new way.
BTW, the comment about freeloaders getting in is BS.
I've been a part of this event for many years, what Weaver said is simply untrue.
You HAVE to have a ticket to get in.
We locals dont call the local newspaper the Ocala Star-Blunder for no reason.

[AnonChick]

Edited because there was a post after mine that accused the newspaper of telling a blatant lie:

The newspaper didn't say that people could just walk right in without paying. Yes, you have to have a ticket. But almost half of those tickets are GIVEN away with promotions. The end result - those people showing up with tickets, who didn't pay, didn't pay.

Okay, I did the math based on the limited data provide by the actual article. Between 1500 and 3000 typically attend this event, and pay either 30 or 40 bucks per person, depending on whether they pay in advance or at the door. So let's just average the whole thing out: 2250 average attendance. But only half of them pay anything at all, so that's an average of 35 bucks per person, paid by 1125 people.

So 1125 x 35 = 39,375 is the gross revenue for the above averages, representing past typical averages. We'll call this situation #1.

The new idea is to have only 300 people attending, paying either 150 per couple, or 100 per person. I'm guessing most people will come as couples, so let's call it a healthy 75%, or 225 people paying $150, and 75 people paying $100. 75x100 = 7500. 225x75 (the amount per person if you go as a couple paying $150 per couple) = 16,875. 7500+16875=24375

We'll call the new gig situation #2; with a gross revenue of only $24,375

Now let's deal with the costs: assume $15 per person. That's pretty cheap for a per-person cost of a big-deal to-do, including the food (those restaurants aren't giving this stuff away), tents in situation #1, venue in situation #2, parking attendants, maintenence crew, police overtime and security, random and sundry permit and food vendor fees.

In situation #1, we're dealing with a cost of an average of 2250 actually attending. 2250x15= $33,750 total cost.
Subtract the cost from the gross revenue and the charity is gaining $39,375-33,750= $5,625

In situation #2, we're dealing with a cost of 300 people actually attending. 300x15=$4,500 total cost.
Subtract the cost from the gross revenue and the charity is gaining $24,375-$4,500=$19,875

So situation #1 stands to gain $5,625. Situation #2 stands to gain $19,875.

Even if situation #2 turns out to be a bust and only half the people expected buy a ticket, they'll still be gaining $9,937.50 which is $4,612.50 more than situation #1 does. PLUS situation #2 gets the added bonus of less cleanup time, on the part of the venue workers AND the restaurants, less traffic, less traffic congestion, which results in fewer police overtime hours and lower risk of traffic accidents, which -could- result in lower insurance fees...

I'll stick with situation #2, Johnny, for the win.