Palestine A&P agrees to charge for armbands at Christmas Downtown

The Palestine Advertising and Promotion Commission this week unanimously agreed in favor of selling armbands for this year's Christmas Downtown festival. The armbands, which will cost $5, will include everything offered at the event, except for the carriage rides which will remain $2 per person, per ride. Commissioners also approved the rental of the ice skating rink for this year’s Christmas Festival, approved the purchase of 15 boxes of Easter eggs for the annual Easter egg drop and set the date for the event. Board member Steve Quintanilla was absent. Commissioner Michelle Garner said a $34,000 loan payment pushed the spending for the A&P into the red last year. "We are going to have to have a budget this year for stuff," said Garner. "Last year we went over our budget, which it is not that we went over our budget, it's just that last year what got us was that $34,000 payment and it showed us in the negative. We spent more money than we actually brought in." "We had the money and we had money left over, it is just what we spent," said commissioner Cindy Smallwood. Garner told the group that by creating a budget and starting with the purchasing and deposits now would help with booking as well as keeping the A&P money in line. "When we start paying for everything downtown, we are paying for everything over the months of September, October and November," said Garner. "It seems like a huge amount that we are writing checks for. If we will spread this out throughout the year, it won't look as bad. The thing about our A&P is that the money replenishes somewhat every month. It is not like we are going to spend it all and be out of money. That is why we are trying to get approval for this ahead of time, like right now, instead of waiting until the end of the year. Plus, it is a booking issue." According to Garner, the company they use to rent the ice skating rink is the only one that would allow them to rent it on a daily rather than monthly basis. "This is a major, major company and they are the only one that we found that will allow us to rent for only one day," said Garner. "The others we contacted required us to rent them for a solid month, whether it is used or not. That is why we used this company last year. Based on being down there, it wasn't big enough. That is why we want to go to the next size up. We also have a credit to offset the price. We are getting a bigger rink and paying the same amount that we were paying for the smaller rink." Commissioner Derrick Boileau said something has to be charged in the future to try and recoup some of the money spent on the event. "If we are going to do this, we need to charge something," said Boileau. "We are not going to get all of our money back, we are not going to get half of our money back, but we are going to get some money. When we do this, when you charge for it, you are going to find out how many really want to do it. You can set three buckets of junk there and people are going to pick them up and want three more if they are free. If you charge for them, they will sit there forever. It was big this year, it was huge. But, how big is it going to be when people actually have to show up and pay some money? "It is going to slack off a little and we will see," continued Boileau. According to Garner, if the group chose to do an armband for activities, they could charge upwards of $20 for armbands for people to take part in all activities. Commissioner Anthony Kennedy said the ice rink wasn't what made the last Christmas festival successful, but rather the work that was put in to the event as a whole. "It was really good this Christmas," said Kennedy. "Everybody really bragged to me about how good it was. The only problem that I saw was that we couldn't accommodate people. It could not accommodate the amount of people that were there. Even the food trucks couldn't. My granddaughter couldn't get on the skating rink because she wasn't going to wait 30 minutes. I just want to make a point to say, it wasn't the skating rink that made it good. It was the work that people put into it that made it good. It would have been great without the skating rink." "The only way I am going to be for it is if we set a price for it," said Boileau. "Maybe $20 is what it is going to cost you and let's see what we get. I mean we will see how many people do it." "I think $20 may be a little too high," said Smallwood. "You have people who will only want to do a couple of things or those that have four or five kids. We had parents that were signing up four kids on the waivers for the skating rink." According to Boileau, the group could charge $5 per armband and armbands would not include the carriage rides. "So how much are we going to charge?” asked Boileau. "We aren't going to get half of our money back, but we need to get something. Let's say $5 and you get to do everything except the carriage rides, which will remain $2 per ride, per person." The board unanimously agreed upon Boileau's recommendation. Boileau told commissioners that the Easter eggs for the annual egg drop had been purchased and delivered. "We have 15 boxes of Easter Eggs. They are candy and toy filled eggs and they cost $2,100,” said Boileau. “I need a motion to purchase the Easter eggs. We do this every year. Mrs. Valerie (Parker) ordered them as she is able to get them cheaper the earlier they are ordered. Easter is in late April this year, so we need to set a date for the egg drop. Easter Sunday is on April 20, so we can go with April 12, and if it is rained out, we can move it to April 19."

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