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Home My WebLink About2006-04-20 Regular Meeting CITY OF GRAPEVINE, TEXAS ,, GRAPEVINE CONVENTION &VISITORS BUREAU BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Thursday, April 20, 2006 — 11:30 a.m. Wallis Building Grapevine, Texas AGENDA I. CALL TO ORDER II. INTRODUCTION OF STAFF III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES IV. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT V. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT VI. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT VII. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT A. NEW YORK SALES MISSION B. AFFORDABLE MEETINGS — CHICAGO C. SHREVEPORT HOME & GARDEN SHOW D. TTIA UNITY DINNER —AUSTIN E. MEETINGS INDUSTRY COUNCIL — DENVER VIII. OLD BUSINESS A. NEW VINTAGE REPORT B. SPRING INTO NASH FARM REPORT C. DAY OUT WITH THOMAS REPORT IX. NEW BUSINESS A. GRANTS-IN-AID REQUEST B. TEXAS WINE TRIBUTE TICKET PRICE X. REPORTS A. HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIAISON B. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LIAISON XI. ADJOURNMENT L State of Texas County of Tarrant City of Grapevine MINUTES The Grapevine Convention &Visitors Bureau Board of Directors met on Thursday, April 20, 2006 at the Wallis Building, Grapevine, Texas with the following persons in attendance: Don Bigbie Chairman Ev Barnes Board Member Philip Cloud Board Member John Imaizumi Board Member Kathee Livengood Board Member Paul Slechta Board Member Steve Stinson Board Member Mark Wasiak Board Member Darlene Freed Council Liaison Mike Lease Chamber Liaison Pat Stinson Heritage Foundation Liaison Jennifer Hibbs Assistant City Manager Paul W. McCallum Executive Director George Kakos Assistant Executive Director Ross Bannister Director of Heritage Programs & Preservation ABSENT Bill Brink Board Member CALL TO ORDER Chairman Bigbie called the meeting to order and introduced Mike Lease, the new Chairman of the Chamber Board and liaison to the CVB Board. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes from the March 23rd meeting was made by Paul Slechta and seconded by John Imaizumi. Motion carried. HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT • Conditional Use Requests have been made for: • Back Porch Grill and Tavern to add an outdoor dining area. • Wild West Custom Cycles, located at 204 N. Dooley St. - for outside dining in conjunction with a restaurant. • Winestyles, a retail wine store located on Hall-Johnson Road, for retail sale of wine only for off-premise consumption. • Grapevine Corner, the Westwood property on NW Highway in conjunction with a restaurant. The Board of Directors Meeting April 20, 2006 Page 2 of 4 HOTELS/ATTRACTIONS REPORT cont. • The Main Street Office Building — corner of Main and Dallas appears to be fully leased with a hair salon, a fruit bouquet gift shop and a bank office. • Cracker Barrel picked up their building permit this past week. They will be located in the Grapevine Mills area. • There is a buyer for the Gourmet Concepts cheese store. GRAPEVINE VINTAGE RAILROAD REPORT George Kakos reported the New Vintage Jazz Wine Train sponsored by Park Place Motor Cars — Midcities was a huge success. The passenger count was 356. The train "sold out" faster than last year. The food was sponsored by the Main Street Blues Room. The wines and food were served by the Grapevine Wine Pouring Society. Live jazz music was performed on board in each coach. HERITAGE PROGRAMS AND PRESERVATION REPORT Ross Bannister reported that the Spring into Nash Farm event had an attendance of 600, including representatives from the National Trust. The weather turned favorable after a cool start and a good time was had by all. The Palace Arts Center Program committee is focusing on an 18-month schedule in order to be able to sell "seasons" of programming. The Grapevine Heritage Foundation is considering annualizing their membership. They are also looking at all their events and considering combining some events such as the Jubilee and their annual meeting. The Preservation Advocacy Awards will be presented at the May 16th council meeting. SALES AND MARKETING REPORT Mr. Kakos reported for the month of March that the convention sales division produced 39 leads representing 74,274 potential room nights. The team assisted with 8 definite groups representing 1,949 room nights. Staff conducted two site inspections and participated in the Meetings Industry Council of Colorado and Affordable Meetings in Chicago where they had 49 visitors to their booth and hosted ten meeting planners at a dinner. Tourism sales staff produced 12 leads representing 290 room nights and 735 attendees. They assisted with 8 definites representing 215 room nights and 545 attendees. The Unity Dinner in Austin was well attended with John Cornyn as the speaker. The Marketing Committee has meetings set for May 4th and May 10th at the Grapevine Convention Center. The Board of Directors Meeting April 20, 2006 Page 3 of 4 SALES AND MARKETING REPORT cont. Destination Services assisted 13 groups representing 18,375 attendees. They assisted at 10 different properties. During the month 65,635 brochures were distributed and 9,676 guests visited our Visitor Information Center. The Convention Center booked 39 groups representing 10,105 attendees. Room rental at the center for the first six months is up $37,894 and in-house catering is up $45,148. Visits to the Grapevine Vintage Railroad website totaled 39,715 unique visitors and visits to the general site totaled 46,338 unique visitors — a new high for this site. Public Relations generated $54,304 in print and $47,435 in electronic media coverage. Mr. Kakos shared the latest issue of Grapevine Today and the Grapevine Market rack card with the board. OLD BUSINESS New Vintage Report Don Bigbie reported that the weather improved as the day progressed and that while the numbers were down a little the revenues remained constant. The wrap-up meeting of the wineries was last night and overall people were very pleased with the event. Salt Water Willies provided the food at Cross Timbers and he felt is was a great promotion for them. Spring Into Nash Farm Report Pat Stinson reported that they hosted a champagne breakfast for potential donors before the Spring Into Nash Farm event. Joe & Izak Gregory made a $6,000+ donation in recognition of their grandparents family farm near Lubbock. At the farm the night before two baby lambs were born making an extra treat for the children. Dav Out With Thomas The 2006 Day Out With Thomas was co-produced with the Age of Steam Railroad Museum. Twelve trains a day carried over 31,000 passengers during the 6 days and a total estimated attendance of 34,000. One man was at the Gaylord for a conference, learned about Thomas and flew his wife and son down from St. Louis to ride. Another man from Missouri arrived at 4:00 a.m. to wait in line to buy tickets. Not everything is finalized but record merchandise sales of approximately $275,000 were reported. NEW BUSINESS Grants-in-Aid Request A grants-in-aid request application from the Tarrant Area Guild of Story Tellers was presented. Staff recommendation was to fund $500 for Tales by the Rails and use as part of our Fall program leading into the Holiday period and recommend $500 for spring The Board of Directors Meeting April 20, 2006 Page 4 of 4 NEW BUSINESS cont. Grants-in-Aid Request cont. and/or fall Nash Farm program that would be most beneficial to the historic preservation division. Phil Cloud made a motion to accept the staffs recommendation, seconded by Paul Slechta. Motion carried. Texas Wine Tribute Ticket Price The ticket price was established at $95 per person in 1999 and the quality of the event continues to grow. The Texas Wine Tribute Committee is recommending the price be increased to $125 per person. After much discussion Ev Barnes made a motion to table this item until the next meeting. The motion was seconded by Steve Stinson; motion carried. REPORTS Heritage Foundation Pat Stinson reported that the first bricks are set around the pole barn at Nash Farm. The Foundation is also establishing a speakers' bureau. They have over 500 members and want to double that. They will have a booth at Main Street Days and are hosting the VIP room. Chamber of Commerce Mike Lease thanked the board for having him. As incoming chairman of the Chamber, he is excited about this next year and the growth the chamber has seen. Next Tuesday will be a Chamber picnic at Parr Park at 5 p.m. Members and families are invited. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the board; Ev Barnes made a motion to adjourn; seconded by Paul Slechta. Motion carried. ATTEST: DATE: C