Big plans for Festival Park

I reported last week that three "major festivals" at Festival Park were late in paying $90,000 in bills to the Racine Civic Centre. That issue turned out to be minor - all of the festivals paid up within the last two weeks.

But in investigating the issue, I got to talk with Jim Walczak, head of Venue Works, the private company hired to run Festival and Memorial halls, and Festival Park.

Walczak reported it was a great year at the city's venues, with attendance already surpassing all of 2006 and 4,000 people ahead of last year at this point. In other words, more people are going to events in Downtown Racine - a lot more.

At the same time, Walczak has cut more than $200,000 in operational costs in three years. He's done it by simply billing the festivals for a lot of the setup and takedown costs - a standard fee for festivals that the city hadn't been charging until Venue Works took over.

With costs down and attendance up, Walczak said he even envisions a day when the Civic Centre can break even, or kick money back to the city. To make that happen, he's working towards as many as six new events to Racine in the coming years. Here's what he has in mind:

1. An expanded Christmas holiday season, turning Racine into a destination point with Festival of Trees and other seasonal events.

2. Get promoters back into Racine to put on comedy and dinner theater shows and concerts.

3. Work with the heads of the major festivals to organize a new event and have all of the money go toward renovating Festival Park.

4. Bring a Blues Festival to Racine.

5. Extend Party on the Pavement (which ends at 7pm) into an Oktoberfest celebration at Festival Park that continues into the night.

6. Hold a classic rock concert in Racine for Harley-Davidson's 105th anniversary.

All of the events are possible, Walczak said, and could help the Civic Centre bring in the extra $250,000 it needs to break even.