‘BACK TO THE STREETS’

MAD drops out of MusicFest; MSE taking flagship festival over again

Main Street El Dorado will be taking MusicFest “back to the streets” with an old-school, vintage affair that is set for Oct. 7 and 8 in downtown El Dorado.

On March 9, Beth Brumley, executive director of MSE, formally announced that all MusicFest activities, including headlining performances, will be centered on the Union County Courthouse square.

The move will end a five-year partnership of co-hosting MusicFest with the Murphy Arts District.

To help promote the 34th annual festival to a broader market in the region, the El Dorado Advertising and Promotion Commission has approved a funding request of $17,709.

The approval increases a $42,000 award the A&P commission previously approved to help promote MSE events, including MusicFest, throughout the year.

The $42,000 funding request from MSE was part of several 2022 requests for proposals that were submitted to and considered by the A&P commission in January.

Brumley returned to A&P commissioners March 9 to request additional funding for MusicFest.

MusicFest

MSE launched MusicFest in the late 1980s to help draw people to downtown El Dorado, which was in the midst of a transformative revitalization and improvement 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.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, M.C. Hammer, Charlie Daniels, Salt-N-Pepa, Brett Michaels, Boyz II Men, and Jefferson Airplane are just a few of the legendary talents who graced the main stage at MusicFest prior to 2017.

MusicFest holds the record for most wins of Festival of the Year, an 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.

Shifting focus

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.

The move allowed MSE to focus on the other elements of Main Street America’s four-point approach to revitalizing and strengthening the economy of downtown and/or commercial districts.

The points include promotion, economic vitality, organization and design.

For years, the Main Street Arkansas program advised MSE board members that the local program was “promotion heavy.”

After agreeing to hand the reins over to MAD to grow the city’s entertainment base, MSE scaled back its annual promotional events, holding on to some, creating new ones and exploring other fundraising opportunities to sustain its annual budget.

The Main Street board shifted its focus toward design, organization and economic vitality, agreeing to assist downtown businesses by finding ways to help boost customer traffic and enhancing the downtown experience.

Those efforts include fostering a closer working relationship with the Downtown Business Association, installing an audio system that plays music downtown and teaming up with the Arkansas Razorback Airstream Club for the annual Airstreams on the Square.

El Dorado is the first, and so far, only, city to host such an event in

Arkansas, having held the first Airstreams in 2018.

Airstream groups work with local communities to host the nontraditional camping events in downtowns across the nation to support small businesses, raise money for local charities and interact with local residents by exposing them to and promoting the airstream lifestyle.

Airstreams on the Square is typically held in the fall, during which dozens of RVers from multiple states set up camp around the Union County Courthouse for several days.

The event draws crowds downtown who tour the RVs and participate in ancillary activities that include street dances, outdoor movies, cooking competitions, etc.

The activities are free to the public, with some exceptions, such as RV tours, which come with a price of canned goods to donate to local food pantries.

Registration for Airstreams 2022, which is set for Oct. 20 - 23, opened Feb. 8 and MSE reported that 33 campers signed up the first day.

“We had 47 total register last year and 40 that actually were able to attend,” said Holly McDonald, MSE administrative assistant.

MSE’s new focus and direction also led to a partnership with MAD. Another shift in focus Since teaming up with MAD to present MusicFest, MSE has “put the festival in MusicFest.”

The first year of the partnership in 2017 marked the 30th anniversary of MusicFest and the grand opening of MAD.

MAD came in with a bang, coordinating a five-day celebration in late September and early October with performances by Smokey Robinson, ZZ Top, Ludacris, Brad Paisley, Chase Bryant, Natasha Bedingfield, Train, Migos and others.

MAD and MSE continued the co-op in subsequent years, with MAD focusing on the “music” by booking the headliners, scheduling the shows in its venues and handling the ticketed events.

Meanwhile, MSE planned the “festival” component with attractions, vendors and side stages featuring school groups and local and regional talent and attractions on the downtown square.

Because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, MusicFest was placed on pause in 2020.

The cancellation disrupted

BUCCANEER HOMES | CAPPAERT MANUFACTURED HOUSING CHAMPION HOMES | CLAYTON BUILT | DEER VALLEY HOMEBUILDERS NEW VISION MANUFACTURING | SUNSHINE HOMES | LEGACY HOMES JESSUP HOUSING | HAMILTON HOMEBUILDERS the continuity of MusicFest’s annual anniversary count, meaning that the festival would have turned 35 this year had it not been canceled two years ago.

Since MAD took on the ticketed events for MusicFest, once MSE’s largest fundraiser, MSE board members have reported a marked decrease in annual revenue.

Brumley said MSE has had to tighten its purse strings and cut its budget to the bare bones, while leaning more on sponsorships to function.

A discussion with MAD at the first of 2022 indicated that MAD wanted to dissolve its MusicFest partnership, said Brumley, adding that the pullout was confirmed a short time later.

Pam Griffin, MAD president and CEO, said 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.

Like MSE, MAD is undergoing its own reset and shift in direction.

“Post-COVID, MAD is focusing on ongoing events in its venues as opposed to festivals,” Griffin said.

For instance, she said the South Arkansas Arts Center has taken on sole hosting duties for the El Dorado Film Festival, which was launched as a joint effort between the two groups in 2014.

Griffin said MAD also took into consideration profitability and sustainability when it opted out of the MusicFest partnership with MSE.

With MAD booking concerts, festivals and other large- and small-scale events throughout the year, including the MAD on Ice skating rink, Griffin noted that the entertainment industry took a hit with COVID.

The situation forced MAD to make some tough decisions over the past two years, including significantly cutting its staff, as the industry works to recover, she said.

“As you know, it takes a lot of people to plan things like that and with a reduced staff, we’re backing out of festivals to focus on concerts in our venues,” she said.

The MAD entertainment complex includes the First Financial Music Hall, the MAD Amphitheater, a playscape and MuleKick@ MAD, a restaurant that is housed in the same building as the music hall and also hosts smaller, more intimate events.

MusicFest 2022

Now that MSE has been thrust back into the role of booking MusicFest headliners, Brumley told A&P commissioners March 9 that the group wants to reach farther into the Ark-La-Tex region with its advertising and promotional campaign.

As a point of reference, Brumley said the group and its former executive director — Brumley was named MSE executive director in 2017 — spent $26,215 and $18,873 in 2015 and 2016, respectively, to promote MusicFest.

“Typically, the last couple of years, I’ve spent between $3,000 and $5,000 because we’ve just focused on marketing to the (Golden Triangle) — El Dorado, Camden, Magnolia, maybe Crossett, maybe Ruston (Louisiana) —, but our attendees were more small scale and we didn’t spend as much on advertising,” Brumley said.

She said MSE worked with JC Productions, its ad and production agency, to draft an advertising budget for MusicFest 2022.

The budget includes TV, radio and social media advertising for the Golden Triangle, Central Arkansas and North Louisiana, including Ruston and Monroe.

Brumley said MSE would also like to expand eastward to target the areas between Texarkana and Shreveport, Louisiana.

She said the group is looking to capitalize on the attention and momentum that was generated in those eastern markets when the city was featured in “Spirit of the Christmas,” a holiday series that aired in December on KTBS, a Shreveport television station.

Community leaders and downtown business owners reported an increase in visitors and holiday shoppers, a trend that was due, in part, to the TV special.

“Our name is recognizable in that area right now, so if we get more money, we may do that, or we may take off Little Rock,” she said. “We don’t get a lot from Little Rock anyway and we do get some from Texarkana.”

Over the past four years, MusicFest headliners have performed on Friday and Saturday night in MAD venues.

Two blocks north, the festival attractions, vendors and side stages have opened only on Saturday.

Brumley said MusicFest will return to the previous schedule of opening at 5 p.m. Friday and all day on Saturday, with headliners performing both nights.

She said this year’s festival will include shows on the main stage Friday night and four stages throughout the day Saturday.

Admission will also change this year and barricades/fencing will not be set up as they have previously.

Since 2017, downtown streets have not been blocked off for MusicFest and admission into the festival area has been free.

Brumley said MSE and the DBA are working together to come up with amicable solutions to address issues and complaints that have arisen in the past with parking and entry and exit of the event perimeter for customers and employees during MusicFest.

This year, she said there will be some street barricades, gates to purchase tickets and fencing in some areas, with guidance from the El Dorado Fire Department.

The sidewalks will be blocked at some entrances that are not manned by MusicFest staff but most of the street entrances will be manned, she said.

Exceptions may include areas, such as Elm Street, where attractions are set up.

“We won’t have a money gate there, so we would have fencing kind of set up on that street,” Brumley explained.

Also, admission will be charged on Friday night and entry will be free until 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Beth said tickets will be $40 for the entire weekend, “whether you come Friday, whether you come Saturday, or whether you come both nights.”

MusicFest headliners will be announced in early June. More details regarding the announcement are forthcoming.

“We’re trying to let people know that we are taking it back to the street. It is a rebuilding. We’re going vintage, kind of old school,” said Brumley.

“We just know we’ve got to try to manage the expectation, as well as try to take it back to what people remember,” she continued. “You’re going to have naysayers, no matter whet you do, but we’re just hoping for the best.”