Tilted Earth, a relatively new festival in the Verde Valley that primarily celebrates wine, is looking to get more money from the city of Cottonwood for next year’s event.
The event is organized by Page Springs Cellars, a local wine business, and is intended “to celebrate the Verde Valley’s viticulture industry, culture and landscape,” according to a report from the Cottonwood Community Services Department.
In 2014, the city agreed to give $20,000 to the festival, said Hezekiah Allen, Cottonwood recreation services supervisor.
This year, the festival is asking for around $50,000 more.
Allen said that the 2014 money was given to the festival to help it get established with no expectation of any return on that investment.
“In 2015 the request is to become more of a 50-50 partner,” Allen said.
Allen said that the festival had been an outstanding success, based on interviews of people who attended.
That attendance was around 3,000 people, Allen said, with almost half of those who attended coming up from Maricopa County.
“I really feel like Page Springs and our staff delivered last year,” Allen said.
The festival is held in June, a time when tourist traffic is generally low, Allen said.
While there are many wine festivals across Arizona, Allen said he felt Tilted Earth was different with its focus on wine, music and the culture.
Eric Glomski is one of the event’s organizers with Page Spring Cellars.
Glomski said that the festival is looking to take advantage of Cottonwood city staff’s familiarity in organizing events.
“We bring values to the table with our understanding of the industry,” Glomski said. “The city has more experience with putting on these events.”
Glomski said that while the event was well received, organizers have made mistakes in the past, mistakes he said they were learning from.
Glomski cited the feeling that there was too much separation between people who paid for VIP tickets and those who didn’t.
The organizers are also looking at where they can spend money more effectively, Glomski said.
“We over-forecasted ticket sales,” Glomski said.
There is also talk of putting together some sort of discount for locals, Glomski said, given that nearly half of the visitors were from out of the area.
Elaine Bremner, director of the Verde Valley Senior Center, questioned the city spending more than $70,000 on this festival when there are other needs out there.
“We’ve got senior citizens living in vehicles, senior citizens waiting for a meal,” Bremner said. “It’s real. Poverty is real.”
Councilman Tim Elinski, who cast the lone vote against the expenditure at the council’s Dec. 15 meeting, said he does support the festival and hopes for its success.
“I want the event to survive but I’m uncomfortable spending citizen’s money on a risk,” Elinski said.
Councilman Terence Pratt said he feels the event helps drive economic development in Cottonwood.
