Wildwood Celebration Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you now. Can you all hear me? Yes. Okay. Can't see you.

Give us just a second.

Okay. I'm sorry.

Don't be sorry. We're warming up the projector. Are they able to see us online? Because if it doesn't work, what we'll do is we can start the meeting. And then if you want to tell us if Commissioner Silverman has comments or wants to raise her hand, we could do it that way.

The backup store. Is it okay that you hear me, but you can't see me?

We'd like to get it on the screen if we can.

Okay.

Give us just a couple of minutes. Okay. There's something out here. I'm just noticing the kids are there.

That's cool. Okay. I know. Yeah. No, we just have to go and then we had a 5050 and a raffle. It's an overflow. Jo, I hate to hold things up. No, you're fine.

You can participate. I was just trying to get it on the screen, but I think that's going to be an option tonight.

Okay.

Madam Chair, I backed out of the program and then I restarted Zoom and it still doesn't work. So not quite sure why it isn't.

Well, we will continue on. And so since we can't see you, Commissioner Silverman, just... pipe up when you want to comment. I think, I think.

I can see her on my screen. So she uses the raise hand feature will tie me in.

That sounds good.

I see my raise hand feature.

Awesome. Awesome. Okay. All right. This is Wednesday, July 1st, 2026 calling the Wildwood celebration commission to order. We thank you for your patience at 611. Please call the roll.

Chair Edens. Commissioner Silverman. Here. Commissioner Jones. Commissioner Collier.

Here.

Commissioner Lind. Here. Commissioner McAvoy. Here. Liaison Robleski.

Here. And myself. We have quorum. Wonderful. I would love to have a motion on the floor to approve the meeting minutes from last time on June 3rd.

I will approve those minutes from June 3rd.

Okay. Bye, Commissioner Lind. Seconded by... Special liaison Robleski. Any changes to the minutes? Seeing no amendments, voice vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, abstain. Thank you. We're now to the public comment portion of our meeting. Seeing no individuals in person, so we have anyone attending online?

We have no attendees tonight, Madam Chair.

All right, no attendees online. Moving on to item number five, discussion of the 2026 Celebrate Wildwood event, item A, revenue sources and sponsorships for funding the 2026 event. Take it away, Mr. Boonich.

Thank you, ma'am. First of all, from the Department of Planning and Parks, we appreciate your attendance tonight. We know it's World Cup night for the United States. We'll do our best to move along as quickly as we can. And to Officer Fisher and Ms. Chansky and Ms. Nager, thank you so much as well. As we typically do at each of our meetings, we update you on the two key components of the event for most people, not necessarily at this table, that being revenues and expenditures. As you know, each year the city council sets aside a certain amount of money as part of its operating revenue budget for this event. This year it was $70,000. That was a reduction Therefore, we knew that we had a challenge ahead of us for this upcoming year, 2026. As part of that, given that we moved to a new location from the field east of the theater to Village Green, we also knew that there was some potential cost savings associated with that change, particularly relative to electrical charges, proximity concerns, et cetera, et cetera. So we were hoping that even though with the reduction in the amount of operating revenue set aside for this year by city council. With sponsorships, we would be able to basically provide the same level of that in terms of quality numbers. The good news is, and I think Chris has a graphic for this, we set our goal for sponsorships at $25,000. And as of today, we are 117% above. Way to go. Oh, that's great. Well, in terms of the number is $29,205. That's wonderful. We just closed the sponsorships, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we won't collect some additional monies as we go along. There's always people that come along and blame the game, those procrastinators, so to speak. Congratulations to Ms. Lynn and Ms. Silverman for not beating the bushes for a while. Yeah, we did. It's been a parade for you all as well.

Thank you. We're happy to do it. Thank you.

We saw you out there one day, so we know it's rubber on the pavement. The vendors' fees, Chris will give an update on the vendors that we have, but we're well ahead of schedule. As you know, we increased the cost of vendor fees this year, and so that's going to help along as well. The revenue-bearing component, The major decision was made at our June meeting, which was we selected the Wildwood Lions Club, Wildwood Area Lions Club, as well as the other partner with them, the West County Rotary Club, to be the primary vendor of beer at the upcoming event. The reason for the decision was, I think, very simple. The Pond Athletic Association only offered 12% revenue sharing of the receipts. The other, that being a Wildwood Area Lions Club, West County Rotary, offered to request the 30%. So we're in good shape. What was Pond's reaction? I've not heard from them. So I owe them a ball. So as I can explain, some of the folks there have been there for decades, like Ms. Herbst and others. And I think the key I want to emphasize to them is what you all suggested. We'll be back at this in 2027. If their revenue picture changes and they want to be competitive at 30% or more, we'll certainly consider them.

Thank you.

And then in terms of in-kind contributions, those are the ones we accept. And the biggest one each and every year is always West News Magazine. That pull-out section in the publication right before the Celebrate Wildland event is about $8,500. So they provide in-kind of about $4,225. And we then pay the remainder of that. Well, we do efforts where we've got the promotional materials out with the new logo. The logo contest attended the River Cutting at Village Green. I think she's a graphic designer, which explains a little why we all kind of gravitated toward that one. We started the marketing of the memorial pavers. I would tell you we haven't sold any at this time.

We've got almost five new ones, thanks to Ms. Lynn and Ms. Silverman. So, Lee, I will have that number for you because I was just today.

Our promise to all of you as the Celebration Commission, we'll get a paver out there this year for you all. Basically, I think it's going to be a larger paver and then we'll do each year as we move through. So hopefully we'll have something out there for you before the end of the year. 14 bricks we're at. Oh, 14, okay.

We're at nine. And I'm waiting on one more and then I'll place the order. So that'll be the important one.

Let's get the one for the commission as well then. So while we're here, we also talked about that at our last meeting in June. Yes, he was able to provide you some mockups and ideas. We have that later on in the agenda, so I'll hold on that. We have solicited businesses, both outside Wildwood, inside Wildwood, in Miss Lynn, Miss Silverland, and many others. But also Mr. Lee did the letter to our consultant contractors, and I think that's kind of what put us over. So a shout out to Tom Lee, our city administrator. And we are doing our best to reduce costs where we can. Obviously, you all know inflation hasn't subsided. And generally speaking, everybody's charging more for wages as well. So it's a tough time right now, but we're doing the best we can. And then again, advertising, we're making the push as we move in. There's information now in the newsletter, just a single component relating to vendors. We'll be adding more. And then again, as you know, in-house with our consultant, Debbie Ward with Silver Tablet Marketing, we do our best. We basically start feeding the information, the items into our social media, and then we will kind of hit it hard in August and September. Saying that, As you know, this year, we've kind of introduced into the event our plein air component. We used to have the standalone plein air event in the first week and in May. That was scrapped, so to speak, because we're doing it a little different. That starts on July 17. So we're going to start promoting that. And that leads us to talking about Celebrate Wildwood because They'll be displayed in the yard. It'll be the people's choice. It's part of Celebrate Wildwood. That's where people will still be on display inside. City Hall will be open for the event at lower level. So we're going to get, next week or so, you'll start seeing more and more of Celebrate Wildwood, at least on our social media website in New Zealand. And with that, I'll conclude. And if there are any comments or questions, And again, a shout out to everybody that's helped us with response.

We appreciate the work from Commissioner Lent and Commissioner Silverman made a big difference this year. And so I don't believe it sounds like we need an emotion unless there's changes that we want to make. So unless anybody has concerns, I think we're headed in the right direction.

we'll keep doing what we're doing. As I say, I think actually we'll end up over 30,000, maybe 32,000 by the time it's all said and done. If past practice plays out this year relative to our friends that call themselves procrastinators. So thank you for your support.

You know what? Better late than never. We'll still cash that check. So we appreciate it. Okay. It sounds like we're ready to move on to part B under five parade update. Fourth, uh, for the 2026 event and discussion of brand marshals.

Yes. So just in terms of the parade update, we confirmed with Desco group, which are Desco, NAI. We have the Wildwood crossing for our start of the parade, as we've had in past years. We have the and that's all complete. He reached out to all the past participants in the parade. And so I think that's going well. And Chris will give an update on that here very shortly. I do want to mention that I have started reaching out to the different entities, the three fire districts, since the chiefs are retired. It's not just as easy as calling down the station and asking to speak to them. So I've talked to a couple of the deputy chiefs, and we're working through that. And hopefully, at the August meeting, I'll have confirmation. If not before, if I have it before the August meeting, I'll send out an email to you all. I did talk with retired Chief Vince Loyal, who's on our master plan update. He thought it was a great idea and was very appreciative of the thought from the commission members. So I think it's going to be a nice component for the amendment. Other than that, a lot of this underway, completed. And some of the things that aren't are the things we wait till the very end, setting the participants things along those lines. But one thing I have tonight for discussion is just the dignitaries. We always asked our United States senators, our US representatives at the House. We also asked the county executive, Sam Page, our county council representative, Mark Carter, As you know, we don't have a state representative this year. Justice Sparks resigned and there will not be an election until November. But we also, we invite the state senator, Mr. Gregory. So I just want to make sure you still want to do that. I know it's kind of a political season, so I'm sure we'll have some of our political candidates wanting to be part typically leave that up to you all. We do allow them in past years we have. So to date only Niall Stephens is registered to be in the parade and I believe he's running for the state representative seat here at the primary and then be successful. Anybody we're missing? US, state?

the mayor and city council are always participants my my recommendation would be to continue with tradition and invite those currently serving and accepting candidates i agree yeah i mean we we've had no incidents with any candidates and those running against other people so i think as long as there's no incidents in the future we'll be continue to invite and see who accepts. That sounds good with the commission.

Well, we'll get those out very quickly because obviously their schedules are at times very busy like all of yours. So we should stop and ask them for their participation and we'll let you know.

Well, perfect. Okay, I think we're ready to move on then to the scavenger hunt overview.

Yep. It's Chansky.

In your packets, okay. This is a sample, draft, draft, draft. Just because two locations, just the clues are going to change a little bit. But this is, this will be like a front and back. Everyone will receive the clues and you can do them in any order. And then when I have to order some stickers, but they'll pick a sticker from their location and They put them in order here and it comes out. Don't share this with anyone. Anyone who's playing. But anyway, it's going to be as a code and they have to read the code. And if they read the code correctly, they'll visit the city tent and they'll get their prize. That's cute. So we're excited to do this. So, yeah, I just need to get on board with some stickers and get it going.

Perfect.

Is there some sort of fun photo prop that they could use when they're done? Like the magnifying glass and a little hat that looks like they're Sherlock or something.

Okay, so they do get a hat, but it's not a Sherlock hat. It's just a wildwood.

A hat with the new logo.

No, it's the wildwood logo. It's the red, white, blue, and the wildwood.

Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

And we are going to maybe over-order and hopefully, you know, some people will see it and they'll be like, yeah, can I get it? So.

And from my perspective, as Chesky did many of the clues, some of them are a little more difficult this year.

They're definitely new places.

That's a cool method. Fun. Ms. Chansky, Ms. Digger, and I are sworn to secrecy. So if you even ask, we won't tell you.

Good.

Do you have any questions? Please, this be the time. But I think what we tried to do is maybe do it a little differently. The scavenger hunts have been real popular. But this would be, I think, the third that we've offered this year. We started with the winter scavenger hunt just to kind of draw some interest because we canceled one of our longstanding events that we held in January. So we wanted to do something. We had a scavenger hunt in association with Route 66. Had about 100 participants download the app. I don't remember how many did. It was like 80. 80 did the winter scavenger hunt. So we're hoping that we've tried a different format. It's still clues, still visiting locations, some new locations. I think the people that we've selected are pretty excited about the fact that they're part of the scavenger hunt this year. So, and I think the clues are a little harder and that should be fun to see how it all works out.

So we put it on a yard sign with the QR code or like a billboard for the farmer's market? Do you think that people would scan it at the farmer's market?

I mean, or possibly, yeah. So we'll put, we'll even have some handout for them at the farmer's market because it's really like a paper driven because they have to collect. They have to collect the actual.

Because the QR code will make them print something.

Okay.

I mean, you know.

I get you. We'll figure it out. All righty.

But yes, the farmer's market is on our list for promotion.

Yeah.

So now you know one location.

No, I just meant she's going to promote.

I'll promote it with signs.

We didn't, unless you gave it away.

We did not.

I got you.

I heard nothing. Did anybody hear me? I heard nothing.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I don't know. Fine, you know one, but you're not getting any other. That was it.

Oh, Lord. Okay. All right. I think anybody have any comments, concerns, questions? Looks fun. Okay. We're rolling along. Ready to move on to update of activities, commitments, and actions. Okay. So our

Focus this month has been sponsorships, sponsorships, sponsorships. And as Director Boonish told you, we were at 29-205. Well, we added one today, so now we're at 29-705. So close. But we'll get there. Last year at this time, we were at 22-310. So we're ahead of the game.

So again, congratulations.

Yes, thank you all for your help. Um, and I'm just going to hit on what, um, has changed. I will say that the line dancing proposal is still on the city administrator's desk. I know. We inquire from time to time. So it's, it's not. Thank you. Parade participants. We're currently at 28. You can see them here last year. And if somebody reaches out, sponsorship, Stacey's hit them up for the parade. So we're always actively reaching out for parade. If anybody knows anybody, organization, cars, groups, we'll be happy to sign them up for the parade.

Cool.

Um, director managed to discuss the grand marshal.

Like the wise group.

Any classic cars.

What are we, are we walking? Are we writing or what are we doing? Oh, we didn't get off. I thought we weren't.

Well, I have nine golf carts. Um, it's not for the chemistry schedule. Do you want to add, we can add.

What's the 9-4?

Some are for the city staff to drive people back to their location. Yes. We can probably, we can find. Well, one's for the mayor. We cut the train out.

We cut the train out. Too much money.

Oh, dear.

Okay. My dad has a A rat rod. Do you know what that is? What? A rat rod.

It's like a 1947 truck or something.

I don't know really. Yeah. So we can ride it. How many can you fit in the back? Maybe two. It's little. It's tiny. But we can throw candy out from there. And somebody can ride inside it.

If I need to walk the route, I can.

I have my dad's little convertible Mercedes, you can put two can sit in the back. It's open and one in the front if you want to use it.

And we could also check Bo Boikman is actually one of our premier sponsors and they're actually the sponsor of the parade. We could also reach out to them too and see what we can get.

Sometimes ask about dignitaries if dignitaries need a ride, but the dignitaries tend to bring their own car. So

So are we decorating this year or just writing? Just writing. Well, we love for decorations.

Let us figure that out.

Yeah.

OK. OK. Let's see. Food and drinks are still status quo. We do have some on the wait list for that. And Ms. Robleski has checked Checked in with Viarda, so we should know next month if they're good to go. Let's see what else. Well, okay, so everything else is still pretty much status quo. Let's talk about booth numbers, if that's okay with everyone. We are... currently because things change after even this is done. Artists, we're now at 38. Last year at this time, 27. You'll see those numbers. So we feel really good. Authors, we're at one. We had one register the other day. Nonprofits, seven versus six from last year. And one government agency, which is the same as last year at this time. These are numbers from at this time. Those numbers next to each other over there.

Government agencies that

Who is that? Yeah, I think it's Babbler. Babbler State Park. Oh. Booth fees at this time are $9,200. So on top of the $29,705, we have $9,200 in booth fees. So yeah, that absolutely helps us. And we did work with Commissioner McAvoy in June. And she has reached out to a lot of her farmers market vendors and gotten some good feedback. So we'll have some more registrants for artists and craft vendors. And I think that's it. Oh, sponsorship banners, I think have already, the order has been placed. And that was one thing we really were trying to get done for us because there's so many other changes with layout and everything we wanted to get done what we could. So that's exciting. So we're not scrambling on the banners. And that was we'd like to get up so everybody can see him the sponsors are recognized for a nice good month beforehand. So as director of lineage said, we're still open to Sponsors the booths. We have maxed the 20 booths. But in the form, we have asked if they're interested in a booth, you know, if one becomes available.

And will the city have a booth to sell stuff? Yes.

I think that's all I have. If anyone has any questions, we'd be happy to answer them.

Perfect. So if you could. jog my memory, how many booths did we have at last year's event?

Well, including everything, it was over 100.

So that included the food court?

That included the food court. That included, like, us.

You do the math, we have 30, almost 40.

Yep.

Almost 50 now.

Yes.

Plus the food. 70. Across us is 71. So we're doing pretty well.

We're really pleased. That's great. And we love when Ms. McAvoy gives us good ideas. Kind of mix it up. And she's got farmer's market every weekend. So we like throwing in the different ones. Right. Same old.

Yeah.

And then kind of spreading out the genre of the different vendors. Yeah.

We've had some.

Shaded tent this year, like we did last year. The dining tent? Uh-huh.

Okay.

It'll be kind of a little bit pushed back on the civic oval. Okay. Kind of more by the tree area and the kids area. I believe we'll be okay to have it back where the playground is. I don't think the playground will be started at the. So that'll be nice and spread out with the clown tent, the inflatables and phone party so i haven't made it to an event yet how's it going over there really nice nice we love it okay good we love it great we think people really love it people love it everybody everybody loves it good packed in i mean so nice

I defer to others. I probably see some of the blemishes more than most because it's not everything I had hoped. But it seems to function very well. As of this past concert, we now have the electric set up so we don't need that generator. So that's a big savings, $2,500. So it's going to be saving us money as the years go along. And looked at one of the items in the future is to create a permanent stage that will function as well as a shade structure during other times of the year. So I think it's going to be really nice. Nice venue, and hope that we would have the problem of trying to compete with the construction of the all inclusive playground doesn't appear we'll have that problem. So at least for this year, September, we'll have all of that area, the two plus acres will The bounce houses and just space and it's shaded. And we've been finished cutting it since last year. So it's getting better and better in terms of just turf as well. So I think the venue is going to be very nice. Much more shaded than what we're accustomed to. Yeah.

Very nice. Restrooms on our list.

Pardon?

Are restrooms on our list one day? Yes.

That's one of the things that's holding the project up. Stormwater is one. I know we have a soccer game. So the extension of Main Street is part of the overall project, so to speak. So we have that. We have Village Green Phase 1. We have Village Green Phase 2 playground. And then there's a private development that's just to the west of Village Green Phase 2 playground. And they all generate stormwater. And up to just a couple of weeks ago, all of them, we were looking at them all kind of separately, which was not very smart. Because they all flow this direction. And then throw in City Hall. because we have some stormwater issues here that's causing leaks in the building. So relatively speaking, we have five sites that all generate stormwater and we need to address them properly collectively versus individually. So just got everybody the same room within the last week and everybody's like, yeah, we can make this work. So that's the good news. It's just going to take time because it has to be a development of a concept plan. And the public in St. Louis district has to review it. Then we have to figure out, OK, how is this all going to fit? And a couple of really smart engineers were working on it, consultants. And they seem to think they'll find that solution. So that's good. The bottom line is we won't have an all-inclusive playground If it starts, it'll start hopefully in October. So it'll be well beyond the Celebrate Wildwood date of September 19th. So my apologies. It would have been nice to have the all-inclusive playground here. It's just, you know, it does give us a little more time for fundraising. Mr. Blosky, our assistant director, Melanie Ripito, and others have been really very successful. I think we're over now $65,000, something like that.

So we appreciate the work that you've done. And we're still proud of what we got. And it's going to continue to get better. So people are loving it.

It's a good space. It's just I wish we had the playground done for you all.

We'll get there. We'll get there. Who needs a playground when you get it? Clowns and bouncy houses. That's true.

A beer vendor.

Right, exactly.

Another beer, it'll be fine.

Okay, well, with that, I think we're ready for other considerations, including promotional items for sale.

As I mentioned, Madam Chair and members of the Commission, we had a pretty good discussion, very good discussion at our last meeting in May, and the selection of the made. So we now have the prices. The t-shirts, the general t-shirts that will sell to the public sitting down with your all's assistance. If you get 78 of them, it's $9.14 per shirt. You can get 120, you know, 120 tops down to $80.29. We were thinking of getting the 78, the cost differences there, but Just trying to manage our expenditures as best as possible. Additionally, we wanted to kind of do a couple of extra things. And those are the next items. The commissioned t-shirts, we're getting eight of those for all of you. They're at $27.82. They'll have the full color logo and left chest imprint plus the back imprint. Have we gotten that or?

I don't have a mock-up of it, but if we do the full logo, the color logo on the chest and then the full covering the back, it brings it, because it's such a low quantity and it's different from the ones we're selling, it comes to $27.82 per shirt. Although it's only $200 relative to...

To me, it's a way to say thank you for coming here every month on a Wednesday night. The lightweight hoodies, we're recommending four dozen. That comes to about $1,000 at $21.64 per unit. Interweight hoodies, we'd like to keep those in. Those were popular.

Yeah.

Have a beautiful day. It's going to be about 70 or so. Yeah. So Christmas. $19.23 and something just under $1,000. The hats, they're $10.17 at least. Those are the prices for the scavenger hunt.

Oh yeah, people will buy those hats.

And we do have that special with the red, white, and blue for the 250th birthday. Staff shirts, we're getting 24 of those at about $265. Total cost is just under $4,700. And I think that's a really good price for all we're getting. And we'll recoup much of that through the sale.

How much did we sell last year? How many of everything did we sell? It seemed like we sold a lot, but I don't know.

So it seems like we sold a lot. I couldn't really tell what was...

John Gerstle, Age of that part may I interrupted now. John Gerstle, We have more items in the store room left over right yeah it tells me we sold.

John Gerstle, Are we ordering the same or less or more about the same.

John Gerstle, I think it's just nice and I think the new logo and the color selection show all made are going to make a very nice combination t shirt. John Gerstle, To proceed forward with the. the components, the individual items, as well as the .

Someone like to make a motion to that effect?

Well, I have a question. Do we know how much we're going to charge for each item yet?

We can provide that to you in August. Most retail, double it. If you want to do a little less, you want to scale it. Like winter weight sweatshirts, they could be a little more. So like I say, think about it. What did we do last year, Ms. Chansky? Did we double it? I think t-shirts were 20.

Yeah, those were 20. Sounds right.

I think the sweatshirts, were they 40? I feel like they were. Yeah.

That's kind of a normal plus. Yeah.

So we doubled. For sweatshirts. Okay. Which is typical retail.

Yeah. Yeah. All right.

That's what I would do. Okay.

20, 40. Good. Likely.

People have a couple of hats. I actually think the Lightly hoodies we've used for one of our events recently.

Do we have the ornaments still? Yes. We can put those back out again too.

Oh, we have ornaments left over. Yeah, sell them.

We can put them back out.

Yeah, I think, yeah. If we could get a volunteer booth to sell it at the holiday event, I think that's really where the market is for it.

Now that's true, but we should still do it. People bought them last year.

Although it's obviously not the end of the year, but relative to Route 66, we're probably going to have some t-shirts left over from the event that I left the flyer at your chair's volume. So we may sell some of those there. So we'll have, I think, a nice variety. Cool.

I would be interested to see if we had old items and we sold them at a discount.

Yeah.

Would that move items quicker? Even if it wasn't a significant discount, if it was a sale on something from a previous event or last year, what would that do to the buyer market?

No, that's deep. At this year, 2026, we canceled the frozen feet half marathon. We're no longer offering that. But in 2025, part of the reason we're not doing it in 2026 is we got to cancel it because of weather. chlorable or ice cold so we have a whole lot of those sweatshirts don't we still so we could probably put some of those out too yeah at a low low price yeah yeah and just people like we did price to go price to go we did we did ten dollars which is you know that's my that's revenue we can count toward the events which may be better so there's no objection we can do that as well yeah sure

Anyone like to make a motion to approve the department's recommendation of the Celebrate Wildwood apparel options found on the table and the attached agenda item for a grand total of $4,679.10 and include the selling of some older items at a discounted price.

I have a motion to proceed. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye. Okay, there were no abstentions or no votes.

Real quick, Officer Fischer, do you have anything you'd like to add for the end of the meeting? All right, see no comments. Our next meeting day.

It is Tuesday, August 11th.

We'll have a whole thing confirmation on the grand marshals for you. We'll talk about the cost for the items. We'll have a proposal for you. We'll see how we did last year. We all have a wonderful.

Well, you have a sign up for volunteers as well.

We can do that. It's getting that close. Yeah. Two more meetings. Wow. Exactly.

We are ready for a motion to adjourn.

I'll make the motion to adjourn.

Thank you for accommodating me.