CVB Board Recommends Music Festival Funding

by David Reed

January 31,2008

            The Columbia Convention and Visitor's Bureau board has recommend allocating $100,000 in local hotel tax proceeds to help producers of last year's Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival hold an encore performance this year.

The Roots ‘N Blues ‘N BBQ Festival was sponsored by Boone County National Bank to celebrate its 150^th anniversary and was produced by the Woodruff Sweitzer agency. The free event drew an estimated 70,000 people on Sept. 7-8 and cost about $500,000.  

            Terry Woodruff, Steve Sweitzer and Blue Note owner Richard King recently formed a production company, Thumper Entertainment, to hold major events in
Columbia, including another free blues festival some time later this year if it can raise sufficient funds.

            On Monday,

            (Lane managed the Blue Note from 1992 to 1996 and was co-owner of a concert production company in Oklahoma City before coming back to Columbia to work as an advertising account executive for the Daily Tribune.)

The City Council previously voted to allocate $10,000 in seed money for the blues festival and will need to approve the Convention and Visitors Bureau  funding because the money would come from the agency's unreserved fund.

CVB Executive Director Lorah Steiner told the CBT that money from the fund was going to be used for expanding the bureau's office space at theWalton
Building, but that expenditure became unnecessary when Regional Economic Development Inc. moved out and freed up space for the CVB.

Steiner, who called last year's festival "wildly successful," said the CVB board's approval was given with the understanding that "this is a one-time thing to get this festival under way."

"If they get through a second year, we're confident they can get national and regional sponsorships," Steiner said.

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