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Small profit prompts Kinsmen
to host Music in the Fields 2011 By Liz Dadson |
Huron-Kinloss council To Comment on this article Click Here |
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The Lucknow Kinsmen made about $7,000 profit at the Music in the Fields, held on the Labour Day weekend in September, and that is enough to inspire them to host the event again next year. Rick McMurray and Ken Irwin came to Huron-Kinloss council Monday night (Oct. 18) to update the township on the one-day country music festival held Saturday, Sept. 4, at the soccer fields in Lucknow, and to discuss plans for the 2011 concert. McMurray said having Casey Clarke and his Chevy Cross-Canada Countdown host the event was a great boost, and the Kinsmen hope to have him back again next year. Showing some slides, McMurray noted that when the crew was setting up Saturday morning, the sky was bright blue. However, by the afternoon when the music began, clouds had moved in and the rain poured down. "We certainly had some challenges putting on this show in the rain," he said. "However, we had a profit of $7,127.42 and we will be making a donation of $2,000 toward Cystic Fibrosis Research (Kinsmen's official charity), and $1,000 to the Wingham Hospital Radiothon campaign." The total revenue was $321,962.93, with expenses of $314,835.51. "If you did that well in the rain, it's an indication of the success you can have when the weather is good," said councillor Anne Eadie. Irwin said the major hurdle for this event is to increase advance ticket sales. "We need to get past that rural mentality where people buy their tickets at the last minute," he said. "We had 125 walk-up sales in the pouring rain on Saturday afternoon," said McMurray. He noted that the excellent sponsorship of the music festival helped the Kinsmen turn a profit this year. As for lessons learned, he said there were a few things that could be improved. They need base radios at the hospitality tent and in the ticket area; more tents for weather relief; the sound booth tents were too big; the beer tent should be moved back to the east field; they need more light in the bar area; and they will have to review the "no re-entry after 8 p.m." rule. McMurray said the "no re-entry" rule will likely go by the wayside because it was not made clear to concert-goers that if they went out after 8 p.m., they couldn't get back into the show.
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The Kinsmen are looking forward to holding their third annual Music in the Fields on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011. "We're moving it back to the weekend before Labour Day," said McMurray, "and perhaps adding a line-up of entertainment on the Friday night - maybe classic rock. We have to review that idea." He said that would help cover the cost of the $30,000 stage which is put up about two days before the concert anyway. "We're trying to book our headliner by Dec. 1 so people can purchase advance tickets as Christmas presents," said McMurray. Irwin urged council to help promote the concert to local businesses. "Maybe we can get them to purchase advance tickets for their employees," he said. McMurray said the Kinsmen appreciate the support of the township. "Without that, we wouldn't be able to put on this show." Irwin said the Kinsmen hope council will continue to assist them, with financial support and some public works manpower during the event. "Well, you did a great job again this year," said Eadie. "We enjoy it," said Irwin. "Otherwise, we wouldn't do it. It would have been a much better day if it had been dry and warm." He added that the Kinsmen will have to review the price of the tickets. Again this year, tickets were cheaper up until two weeks before the concert. "We really need to drive the advance ticket sales to make this work," he said. Scrolling stops when you move your mouse inside the scroll area. You can click on the ads for more
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