During the regular City Council meeting on Tuesday the Forney City Council discussed the potential cancellation of several popular new and long-standing events in Forney. Included in that discussion was whether to try and sell two trams that were purchased for an expanded Christmas event that the previous City Council was planning for Forney. Elected in May, Amanda Lewis and Sarah Salgado made it known to staff that they intended to cancel several events and sell the aforementioned trams even though there had been no discussions with the rest of City Council.
The idea behind expanding Forney’s Christmas in The Park event was to add elements very similar to Prairie Lights in Grand Prairie, TX and Winterfest in Ocean City, MD. Both events have become great revenue generators for both cities, while providing highly attended activities for their citizens and citizens in surroundings cities. However, the first step in Amanda Lewis and Sarah Salgado’s plan included cancelling that event during their first City Council meeting on May 18th. Oddly enough however, Ms. Lewis mentions expanding the Christmas in The Park event during the discussions Tuesday night as you can see in the video below, along with discussions on the rest of the city events.
As for the expansion of Christmas in the Park, much misinformation had been spread around town and on social media by both Ms. Lewis and Ms. Salgado on the cost of the expansion, including a number as high as $600,000. However, the two trams were purchased for a total of $127,000 and the contract for creating the lighting displays, which would have included aerial drone lighting displays was to cost $75,000 to get started. Not only that, the company that provided the winning bid offered to lease the park area and trams, as well as provide the same displays for the event at no cost to the city if their bid did not meet the city’s budget. Unfortunately, the bids were rejected anyway.
As mentioned above, the two events Christmas in The Park would have been modeled after are highly attended and great revenue generators. Winterfest is held in Ocean City, MD every year, a beach town with a population of approximately 7,000. Average attendance each year is 104,000 with record attendance reaching 126,000 in 2015. Entry fee for attendees is $5.00 for ages 12 and up, while children 11 and under get in for free. That said, ticket sales average approximately $300,000 and revenues average approximately $500,000 which include tickets sales, merchandise sales, pictures with Santa, etc. As for Prairie of Lights, the event drew 165,000 attendees in 2019 and 29,000 vehicles. The Grand Prairie event charges per vehicle which includes $30 per car, $60 per limo, shuttle van, or bus, and $100 per commercial bus. As you can see ticket sales for 29,000 vehicles were north of $875,000 for the city. Even with a fraction of the revenues of the above events the City of Forney would have paid off their investment in short time. See the video below for further discussion, as well as their voting to cancel most events, including NYE 2022, Brews on Bois D’ Arc, the free Concerts in the Park, Veteran’s Day Celebration, and more.
Why ? What is their reasoning