6.1 Superintendents Report - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

th The Holiday Makers Market was held Saturday, November 25 in the FT Center’s Fieldhouse. The Holiday Market is one of the Furniture and Things Community Event Center’s Special Events that is promoted and managed internally by the FT Center Staff. All available vendor spaces sold-out (100 spaces to 80 different vendors) by the last week of October. An official waitlist of 25 vendors was established and we fielded approximately 25 more vendor inquiries in the two weeks prior to the show. The show generated $6140.00 in booth fees (99 spaces x $60, plus a single sponsor booth for $200.) Vendors came from all over the state, as well as Wisconsin, after a targeted effort to bring in new vendors selling a wide variety of items. Big Bore BBQ provided hot food and beverages in the field house for the event and Elk River HS alum Cullen Brown provided live music for much of the show. Additional revenue will be realized as a percentage of all event food and beverages sold by Big Bore are paid to the FT Center. We also provided a family craft area, where kids were able to write letters to Santa and color candy canes to hang on our Christmas tree. For 2023, the Holiday Market date was moved to coincide with Elk River Youth Hockey’s Mite Barn Burner tournament held at the facility. All of this was done to create a bigger event presence for the show and to help increase attendance, which it did, based on the positive response from the vendors. This is the third year we have offered the Holiday Makers Market to the community; we have grown the event from 48 vendor spaces sold in 2021, to 100 this year. For the 2024 event will look to continue to grow the event with more vendor placement opportunities and programing. In December we are transitioning to our revised staff scheduling protocol in accordance with our 2024 facility budget. The major operational impacts are the elimination of 40 hours of weekday part time customer service staff each week. This also entails stationing the senior program staff at the front desk to help accommodate for the large volume of custom service needs associated with senior programs. We anticipate the senior programs staff relocating to the front office in January. The second major impact involves the shifting of full time maintenance staff to an evening and weekend work schedule, to lessen the need for part time maintenance staff. Both staffing adjustments are currently in play, early indications are positive, however not with some challenges, but we knew there would be challenges and a need for tweaks as we moved into this new staffing configuration. For the 2023-24 Elk River Boys and Girls High School Hockey Season we have implemented online ticket sales and redemption through the VANCO Online Ticketing application. We worked with representatives of School District 728 to establish the procedures for the ticketing process. With each event the process goes smoother and has become more accepted. Most of the visiting fans are familiar with the process, as many metro school districts had previously transitioned to online ticketing. The Elk River fan base has been a bit less accepting of the change as it is something completely new. Additionally, online ticketing is not used at any other District 728 sporting events currently, so Elk River fans are not familiar with the process. District 728 does intend to implement online ticketing for the 2024-25 school year. Concerns about the added service fees on ticket sales have been brought forward. We have shared the following information with those who have voiced those concerns: Online ticketing is being strongly recommended by school district and municipal auditors (less liability holding cash), provides for less staff intensive needs at games, (addresses some of the labor shortage concerns), and because many other school districts, cities, and counties, have successfully implemented online tickets sales systems. As you may recall, the layout in the old building ensured that customers were all accounted for game day entry with very few staff needed on hand to sell, take tickets, and secure entryways. The immense size of the new facility makes every paid event much more staff intensive, increasing our operational costs significantly. The City Council’s goal for the facility is for it to not receive a taxpayer subsidy to operate. We have worked vigorously to reduce our expenses and increase our revenues, despite opening the building during the middle of a pandemic. Our current ticket charge includes Vanco’s $0.85 fee for using their platform and an additional $1 charge for our administrative fee that offsets our operational costs. Similarly, our concession prices include credit card fees and sales taxes to offset the “convenience” of using credit.