Cotton District restaurants and bars reported mixed sales for a Bulldog Bash frustrated Friday by the last-minute cancellation of event headliner Flo Rida following months of logistical changes.
While businesses including Bin 612, Two Brothers and Stagger In reported sales comparable to prior years, other Cotton District establishments reported less than anticipated sales figures.
Klass Room owner-operator Tyler Klass said for Cotton District operators, Bulldog Bash is an unrivaled sales event.
“For some of these businesses, it pays for the overhead for over a couple months,” Klass said. “Just one night will pay rent, employee salaries, everything. It’s almost double or triple what a normal football weekend is.”
Absent Bulldog Bash’s final act, event programming concluded with a performance by Pell, after which some businesses reported a migration of attendees into their establishments, while other said they saw a steep decline in patronage.
Klass said though his business saw an increase in customers following the event’s premature conclusion, many event attendees left early. With less people on the streets, beer sales at his two street carts tapered.
“Without the last act, not a lot of people are buying that beer, so we’ve got a lot of inventory left over,” Klass said.
Other owners and management also reported sluggish sales at beer carts, which Bin 612 manager Zachary Moore attributed in part to market oversaturation.
Clark Pietrangelo, general manager of Drifters, echoed sales loss estimates, with his establishment’s earning potential cut by at least $2,000 due to the night’s early end.
“Last year, we were busy — we were slam-packed from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.,” Pietrangelo said. “[Friday] night died of at 10:30 p.m. You could walk easily through the bar, and that’s not something we like to see.”
Gringo’s owner Taylor Hemphill said he also lost thousands of dollars in sales.
“Obviously, it was a successful night regardless, but it wasn’t to the level it should have been,” Hemphill sad.
Hemphill said though he acknowledged Flo Rida’s absence catalyzed the night’s sales decline, he is critical of the MSU Student Association and Bulldog Bash coordinators for immediately concluding the night’s entertainment. He said even playing recorded music would have mitigated the loss of the event’s headliner.
“Flo Rida not showing up was the major wrench in the system, but once something like that happens, I feel like if you’re going to put on a production of that magnitude you should have certain contingency plans in place,” Hemphill said.
After the July 8 announcement that the Bulldog Bash main stage would be set in the MSU Amphitheater, its location changed twice, finally returning to the Cotton District between Bulldog Burger and Colonel Muldrow Drive on University Drive.
Klass said communication and leadership issues during the planning stages and immediately before the event contributed to frustrations among business operators. He said he was forced to seek out hours for street closures and performances and obtain a vendor pass because coordinators didn’t readily provide them.
“I feel like the school, the Cotton District and the city police just all need to get on the same page,” Klass said.
Hemphill also said coordinators didn’t directly contact him before the event, and he would have like to have had some input in planning and execution.
Student Association responds
MSUSA President Roxanne Raven disputed the operators’ claims. She said though the 2016 Bash was not as successful as in previous years, the SA kept lines of communication open to Cotton District businesses when obstacles to the event arose.
“I don’t think that is fair criticism,” Raven said. “We had four people involved in directing it with two email accounts, and all our information is all over the place. We sent out so many emails that were unresponded to very often, and we would go out and meet with business owners, and some business owners would not meet with us.”
Raven said she expects the Bash to remain in the Cotton District moving forward, adding she hopes the student association improves relationships with area businesses.
“The community’s involvement, especially those bars and restaurants, has to be there in order for [Bulldog Bash] to continue to be successful,” Raven said.
Bulldog Bash is funded primarily through a portion of Starkville’s 2-percent food and beverage tax, which this year contributed $145,000 directly to the festival, along with another $150,000 toward MSU’s student-led Music Maker Productions that procures bands for concerts and festivals throughout the year.
Raven said next year’s Bulldog Bash will likely be bolstered by the $125,000 Flo Rida left on the table by voiding his contract. She said, in effect, the 2017 Bulldog Bash is positioned for a resurgence.
“I think with proper planning, starting earlier than ever, having more funds than ever, all that will contribute to being able to bounce back next year,” Raven said.
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