Good news, Winter Carnival fans: This year the event was wildly successful.
It broke even.
Cost-cutting, rebidding of contracts and good weather all helped put the carnival back into the black this year. And the national figure skating championships didn’t seem to play that much of a role.
But the carnival’s future looks challenging because of higher costs and uneven donations — as it does for festivals around the country — and carnival leaders haven’t ruled out eventual changes.
“We had a good year,” said Kate Kelly, president of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit organization that runs the carnival. “I’m just nervous about having to do it again.”
It won’t be exactly clear how well the foundation did this past year until the books close at the end of May.
But Kelly said she’s expecting the festival to make about $1,000. That’s good news considering the carnival has made a profit only once since 2000.
Among the things that helped this year:
— Weather. It should never be too warm to melt the ice or too cold to keep people inside, and this year, Kelly said, “we were big-time lucky.”
Getting accurate attendance estimates is tough. The carnival isn’t gated, and visitors don’t need a button to attend everything. But aerial views of Rice Park and sales of hotdish and souvenirs indicate a healthy attendance, she said.
— New bids. This year, carnival officials rebid 15 to 20 contracts, which saved about $40,000.
— City help. St. Paul kicked in even more help this year than usual, contributing $15,000 more in free services and reduced fees than last year.
— Vulcans. They saved the day after the foundation had to cut the traditional snow-sculpting contest for lack of funds. The men in red raised money, streamlined costs and saved the foundation $19,000 out of a $20,000 event.
Oddly, what didn’t help the carnival as much as expected were the national figure skating championships. Officials had hoped the nationals would help push button sales to about $120,000, but instead, the carnival generated about $84,000 in sales.
Looking to next year, the carnival faces some problems.
Among them:
— Uneven sponsorship. Big-bucks sponsors seem harder to get than ever, Kelly said, and having a small venue such as Rice Park doesn’t help.
As unpopular as last year’s move to Harriet Island was, the venue had the space for advertising displays — like the Saturn car display — that generated $440,000. That was about a third more than the goal of $330,000.
This year, Kelly said, “We were scratching at $258,000.”
— Dwindling gambling revenue. As is the case with many nonprofits, the foundation’s income from gambling revenue isn’t what it used to be. In 2000, the carnival got $142,000. This year, it’s budgeted to bring in $35,000, said Bob Matson, the foundation’s gambling manager.
— City costs. The city has been generous in giving the foundation rate cuts and free services, as much as $80,000, or about $15,000 more than last year.
Still, it’s not cheap to set aside Rice Park for carnival events and downtown streets for the two parades. And next year, the city is upping the cost of staging parades from $2,200 to $7,800.
“I swallowed hard” at the notice, Kelly said.
So are organizers around the country, said Tom Kern, event consultant from McLean, Va.
City fees, insurance, payroll and other expenses are rising even as the market for sponsors remains flat, he said.
“That has forced many events to re-examine their business models,” he said.
Kelly said she’s trying to offer events that will draw more visitors, which in turn should attract more sponsors.
Meanwhile, she and carnival officials are kicking around a few possible changes.
For example, Rice Park will be the center of all the action next year. But considering the sponsorship revenue Harriet Island brought in, carnival organizers haven’t ruled out moving the carnival back or to some other large location in future years.
Officials also hope to stage parades next year at the parking area of the former Gillette plant to save the cost of tying up Lowertown streets.
Finally, a half-pipe the length of a football field would create a great snowboarding spectacle. And Kelly said she’d like to land artist Gordon Halloran’s “Paintings Below Zero” ice-painting exhibition, which was on display in February at Chicago’s Millennium Park.
But to pay the price tags of those two exhibits — the half-pipe alone would cost $90,000 — the carnival would have to charge admission or snag a big corporate sponsor.
And what about an ice palace?
Kelly said it’s a real moneymaker. The one in 2004 brought in $3.3 million, putting the carnival more than $730,000 into the black.
But it’s a monumental undertaking that can’t be repeated every year, she said. Instead, the foundation orders one every 12 to 16 years and uses the profit to make up for lean years.
At the moment, she said, the foundation has reserves of about $450,000.
Alex Friedrich can be reached at 651-228-2109.
Copyright 2008 Pioneer Press.
