Impact in Roanoke
The City of Roanoke played an integral part in the formation of EventZone. In an effort to enable an efficient and productive way to manage all downtown events and festivals, in 2003 the city sought an organization to take on the services formerly provided by its Special Events Committee and to schedule and oversee the process for holding festivals and events downtown. Festival in the Park stepped forward to assume this role, reorganized its board, and established itself as EventZone. EventZone now provides a corporate umbrella that assists in growing these existing events.
EventZone receives funding from the City of Roanoke for the services provided on behalf of the city. This public funding contributes to the cost of EventZone’s services, as well as some of the cost associated with producing the festivals and events formerly run directly by the City of Roanoke.
We greatly appreciate and rely on the city’s support of EventZone, which represents approximately 23% of the annual operating budget of our organization. The remaining 77% of our operating revenue is generated directly by our efforts in the form of admission fees, vendor fees, food & beverage sales, corporate sponsorships and generous donations from the public and corporations.
The impact to the City of Roanoke generated by EventZone’s festivals and events is hard to measure, especially when you consider the “quality of life” impact created by many of our efforts.
Additionally, the economic impact for the city is enormous:
For example:
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Many downtown restaurants have their largest annual revenue day on St. Patrick’s Day due to over 12,000+ attendees at the St. Pat’s Parade and Celtic Festival.
Other figures help illustrate EventZone’s financial impact and support of our community:
- In 2007 EventZone directly paid and contributed over $22,000.00 in City admission and meals tax fees;
- In 2006 EventZone donated over $20,000.00 to local charities and non-profits for their assistance in providing volunteers at some of our events;
- Every year, EventZone funds over $8,000.00 in college scholarships as a result of the Festival in the Park “Scholarship for the Arts” (awarded to selected local high school seniors who pursue a higher education in the fine arts.) To date, over $100,000 has been provided to area students.