Thunder Valley Rally brought thousands of people to Old Town Cottonwood for a weekend in September.
It was the 16th year for the event, which focuses on motorcycles, their riders and the music, including national acts such as George Thorogood and the Destroyers this year.
It was also the first time in years that organizing the rally was handled by a committee set up by the city as opposed to an outside promoter.
Many people say the event was more successful than it has been in the past.
Despite that, the Cottonwood City Council is looking at whether it should step away from the event.
The committee consisted of merchants, sponsors, elected officials, police and other members of the community, said Hezekiah Allen, Cottonwood recreation services supervisor, speaking at the council’s Nov. 17 meeting.
“They really made a point to get back to what Thunder Valley Rally does well,” Allen said. “Back to basics. We tried to put together a group that represented Cottonwood, people who had passion for the event and what it is about.”
Allen said that an effort was made to bring in representatives from around the area.
“We realize the event impacts a lot of our neighbors here,” Allen said.
Allen outlined some of the goals the committee had set for the 2015 event.
One goal was to increase attendance by 10 percent, something Allen felt had been accomplished; estimates put attendance at the rally at around 10,000.
Allen said that the rally also met its goal of attracting 10 percent more “large-scale” sponsors.
The sponsors brought in $14,500 an increase of 29 percent, Allen said. In-kind donations, including time spent getting the event together, were valued at $43,590, a 40 percent increase.
An important goal was to reduce the losses of the event by 10 percent.
That one is a little harder to track, Allen said, since this is the first year the event hasn’t shared costs and losses with a promoter.
“From this point forward it will be easier to figure out,” Allen said.
Allen also talked about how the event is perceived overall.
“Our goal was to change the culture of Thunder Valley Rally,” Allen said. “For the last couple of years there were some negative connotations.”
Allen looked at the rally’s Facebook page and said that most of the response there was positive.
Mitch Levy, with Burning Tree Cellars, was on the committee and concurred.
“In the past, with the promoter, negative comments were deleted,” Levy said. “This time we took all the criticism.”
Allen said that the committee has a five-year plan with a goal of hopefully at least breaking even.
“National acts are what provide the word of mouth marketing,” Allen said.
Organizers would like to see the rally become a nationally recognized event “branding Old Town Cottonwood as a tourist destination,” Allen said.
Allen said the organizers had also worked with Northern Arizona University to create a study looking at the response to this year’s event.
Around 150 people were included in the sample size.
“The lowest score was for parking,” Allen said. “ I’m not sure we’ll ever get really high on that. We’ll try.”
Of the people surveyed, 26 percent had never been to Old Town Cottonwood before; 89 percent said they felt Old Town was a good place to hold the rally and 11 percent were neutral.
Allen said that the total estimated economic impact from the event in the region was around $1.7 million.
The program raised money for other organizations, including $12,500 for Old Town Association, $10,500 for the Verde Valley Military Service Park planned for Garrison Park, $750 for the Kiwanis Club, $2,500 for the Cottonwood Fire Department and $400 for the Cottonwood Youth Commission.
Overall, the event lost $63,100, against a total cost of around $170,000. The city had budgeted $86,000 for the event to cover that loss.
Not everyone was happy about the city’s continued involvement with the Thunder Valley Rally.
“As I look at it over the last three years the losses are huge, the amount of money that’s being dedicated to the event is huge and I’m not sure it’s the city government’s responsibility to provide entertainment in competition with other private businesses that do entertainment and tourist events in the Verde Valley,” said Phil Terbell, a Cottonwood real estate agent. “I think we should take a very good hard look at this. Is it the best use of our resources, the best use of our talent?”
Councilman Tim Elinski said that while he appreciated the effort and hard work the city’s staff had put into the rally, he absolutely did not like the event at all.
“I’ve never liked this event,” Elinski said. “I wish we had applied this energy to Rhythm and Ribs.”
He called the discontinued annual festival “family friendly” as opposed to his impressions of the Thunder Valley Rally. The city discontinued Rhythm and Ribs to focus on the rally and the Tilted Earth Wine and Music Festival.
Elinski said he was concerned about the accuracy of the polling for reactions to the rally and said it only questioned people who were at the rally.
Elinski said he would like to see a detailed survey of the merchants in Old Town as well as Cottonwood residents.
Councilman Randy Garrison sat on the rally planning committee and said he was “not necessarily overwhelmed” with the negative impact from the event.
The event benefits the entire region, Garrison said, even if paying for the event ultimately falls to Cottonwood.
“Hands down this year it went so much better than last year,” Garrison said.
Mike Anderson, who runs Bootlegger’s Beer Club in Old Town, said he would be fine either way if the event continued or if it became a thing of the past.
“I saw a lot of things that should be addressed,” Anderson said. “One is security. There were lots of people walking around highly intoxicated.
“Collected a bucket full of knives and stopped a lot of people with guns. I know it’s an open carry state but I thought that was going to policed a little better.”
Anderson said public restrooms were also an issue. His business had a constant line and not everyone in line was a customer.
Eric Jurisin, who owns several businesses, including some in Old Town, said he was also on the fence about the future of the rally.
“As far as Thunder Valley Rally this year, it was a good event,” Jurisin said.
He said his Tavern Grille made more money, Nic’s Italian Steak & Crab House broke about even, and the Bocce restaurant lost money compared with a normal weekend.
Jurisin said he believed the local wine-tasting rooms suffered, however.
Mayor Diane Joens, who said she thought the event had been vastly improved over last year, said the City Council should consider whether it’s worth continuing the rally at all.
“It’s really hard to sit here and hear so much negativity, really, for the amount of expense that we place,” Joens said. “I mean, if the merchants don’t like it or are on the fence, then what are we doing this for?”
Garrison said that if the council is going to consider pulling the plug on the rally, a decision needs to be made soon because putting on a decent event takes a lot of time and planning.
“I need to have conversation sooner rather than later,” Garrison said. “The committee is already energized.”
Councilman Terence Pratt said that the council could have another conversation about the issue in December.
