News
RIFLE, Colorado — Between the Garfield County Fair organization and Michael Martin Murphey's Westfest, the events taking up the first two weekends in August may well have been the best-marketed combination of attractions at the county fairgrounds in some time.
And organizers are hoping the turnout will reflect that.
Westfest, Aug. 13-15, is resuming this year following a five-year hiatus, at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Rifle. The event is costing the county $150,000, and the Westfest organization was expected to do its own marketing and advertising.
Exact figures for the Westfest marketing budget could not be obtained, although Ty Morgan, promoter of the event, said that marketing involves every possible media outlet, from newspapers to television and radio, and the Internet.
According to Lance Cowan, a Tennessee-based publicist, Westfest's marketing program has launched approximately $80,000 in radio ads on eight stations around the country, as well as in such diverse outlets as the Denver Post and Offbeat, a music-oriented publication in Baton Rouge, La.
The marketing effort also has used new media, such as Facebook, Cowan said. He said he was not privy to the total value of the marketing for the event.
Aside from all that, however, there is the marquee attraction, Murphey himself.
“Wherever he's at doing shows, he'll talk up Westfest at Rifle,” Morgan said.
The Garfield County Fair, set for Aug. 4-7 at the fairgrounds in Rifle, is being marketed to the tune of $49,000, which is going to a Denver-based firm called Watermark Advertising, in Englewood.
That amount equals approximately one-third of the budget appropriated to the county fair by the Board of County Commissioners, which came to $144,000.
In the past, according to county officials, marketing was handled internally and cost a lot less. Then the county decided it would get a better turnout by turning the marketing over to professionals.
According to Dale Hancock, the county's director of general services, marketing in 2007 cost the county $26,029. In 2008, it jumped to around $33,384 and in 2009 it went to $36,065.
All the marketing figures, he said, include the fees paid to the marketing contractor and all the costs of advertising and other charges.
While the county is not participating in the marketing of Westfest, it is helping out in terms of finding volunteers to work the show.
Nita Smith, of Wagon Wheel Consulting in Rifle, is in charge of gathering between 100 and 200 volunteers, and she said on July 26 the process was “going well.”
At the Rifle Chamber of Commerce, marketing specialist Andrea Maddalone said they have been fielding calls from a lot of people who each consider themselves Michael Martin Murphey's No. 1 fan, and who are making plans to travel great distances to see the show.
One caller from Ohio said he was packing up his RV and heading west, Maddalone said, “And he told me he's [Murphey's] No. 1 fan.”
A woman from Greeley is meeting relatives from Utah, so they can have a reunion and see the show at the same time.
“And she's his No. 1 fan,” Maddalone recalled with a laugh.
The farthest away, Maddalone said, was a vendor from somewhere in Europe who called to see about shipping his artwork to Rifle and setting up a booth at the fairground.
Although she was not sure if the European vendor will show up, Maddalone said, “Just the fact that they thought about Rifle, we're very excited about that.”
She said local hotels have reported they are “booking up,” and current estimates are that the fair will draw between 1,500 and 2,500 people per day, and Westfest somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000.
jcolson@postindependent.com
And organizers are hoping the turnout will reflect that.
Westfest, Aug. 13-15, is resuming this year following a five-year hiatus, at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Rifle. The event is costing the county $150,000, and the Westfest organization was expected to do its own marketing and advertising.
Exact figures for the Westfest marketing budget could not be obtained, although Ty Morgan, promoter of the event, said that marketing involves every possible media outlet, from newspapers to television and radio, and the Internet.
According to Lance Cowan, a Tennessee-based publicist, Westfest's marketing program has launched approximately $80,000 in radio ads on eight stations around the country, as well as in such diverse outlets as the Denver Post and Offbeat, a music-oriented publication in Baton Rouge, La.
The marketing effort also has used new media, such as Facebook, Cowan said. He said he was not privy to the total value of the marketing for the event.
Aside from all that, however, there is the marquee attraction, Murphey himself.
“Wherever he's at doing shows, he'll talk up Westfest at Rifle,” Morgan said.
The Garfield County Fair, set for Aug. 4-7 at the fairgrounds in Rifle, is being marketed to the tune of $49,000, which is going to a Denver-based firm called Watermark Advertising, in Englewood.
That amount equals approximately one-third of the budget appropriated to the county fair by the Board of County Commissioners, which came to $144,000.
In the past, according to county officials, marketing was handled internally and cost a lot less. Then the county decided it would get a better turnout by turning the marketing over to professionals.
According to Dale Hancock, the county's director of general services, marketing in 2007 cost the county $26,029. In 2008, it jumped to around $33,384 and in 2009 it went to $36,065.
All the marketing figures, he said, include the fees paid to the marketing contractor and all the costs of advertising and other charges.
While the county is not participating in the marketing of Westfest, it is helping out in terms of finding volunteers to work the show.
Nita Smith, of Wagon Wheel Consulting in Rifle, is in charge of gathering between 100 and 200 volunteers, and she said on July 26 the process was “going well.”
At the Rifle Chamber of Commerce, marketing specialist Andrea Maddalone said they have been fielding calls from a lot of people who each consider themselves Michael Martin Murphey's No. 1 fan, and who are making plans to travel great distances to see the show.
One caller from Ohio said he was packing up his RV and heading west, Maddalone said, “And he told me he's [Murphey's] No. 1 fan.”
A woman from Greeley is meeting relatives from Utah, so they can have a reunion and see the show at the same time.
“And she's his No. 1 fan,” Maddalone recalled with a laugh.
The farthest away, Maddalone said, was a vendor from somewhere in Europe who called to see about shipping his artwork to Rifle and setting up a booth at the fairground.
Although she was not sure if the European vendor will show up, Maddalone said, “Just the fact that they thought about Rifle, we're very excited about that.”
She said local hotels have reported they are “booking up,” and current estimates are that the fair will draw between 1,500 and 2,500 people per day, and Westfest somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000.
jcolson@postindependent.com
