MainStrasse Village Association

1
MainStrasse Village Association

• Stuff big and small
• about the organization

2
Who we are what we do

• We are an organization comprised of 2 paid
  employees and a volunteer board
• We have resident members, business members and
  some members from the larger community
• We have been doing this for 30 years
• We either directly create or facilitate events in
  the MainStrasse area
• This comes in the form of festivals and events
• We facilitate over half a million people coming
  to the MainStrasse Village throughout the year.

3
Major festivals

• Mardi Gras
• Maifest
• Goettafest
• Oktoberfest

4
Facilitated events

• Worlds Longest Yard Sale
• Classic Car Show
• 4th Sunday Antiques
• Northern Kentucky Wine Festival- this has
  officially moved to the MainStrasse Area
• Christmas events/tree lighting ceremony/St. Nick
  arrival
• Dog Costume Pawrade
• Its not just festivals. We either directly help
  organize, fund or market these events.

5
Thankless efforts

• We provide copy and faxing services to residents
  of the area
• We answer emails to people looking for apartments
  who are from out of the area
• We provide walking tour guides to people visiting
  the area for the first time, also downloadable on
  our website
• Our staff member, Donna K, has notarized items
  for area residents, member/non-member
• In a world thats too busy, we pick up the phone
  for all the miscellaneous stuff.

6
Yes we drive business results

• Bring about half a million people to the
  MainStrasse Village every year
• Throughout the year, we generate greater than
  400,000 of publicity value for the area
  surrounding events/festivals
• Our festivals provide an unparalleled value for
  artisans and food vendors
• We staff events either by volunteers or paying
  charitable groups in exchange for their services

7
Artisan and Vendor Opportunity

• We average around 150k in attendance per our
  larger events
• _at_ 750 per commercial booth, we deliver about 200
  people per dollar spent to the event
• _at_ 275 per artisan booth, we deliver about 545
  people per dollar spent to the event
• Note this is nominal audience value we present
  to them and does not reflect their individual
  costs to provide goods/services to the event

8
Value to vendors

• We handle marketing and promotion of the events
• We handle organization of the events
• Tenting
• Parking
• Security
• Fire
• Electrical needs
• We handle cleanup after the event
• We provide a very cost effective business
  opportunity to our vendors.

9
We are doing something right

• Our Maifest, Goettafest and Oktoberfest events
  are consistently named in the top ten festivals
  in the state
• We were awarded 7 best of awards in the marketing
  and souvenirs from last year
• We help provide an entertainment destination for
  the region

10
Value to community

• Some of the volunteers organizations that we
  support
• Covington Firefighters Auxiliary
• N KY Soccer
• Faces without Places
• N KY Cobras (baseball team)
• HUT A/C (Cov. youth sports)
• Covington/Kenton Co. Jaycees
• Covington Fire Fighters Auxillary
• Queen City Rugby
• 9th District School
• In 2008-2009, 499 and a total of 163 hats,
  gloves, scarves and socks to Covington Parthner's
  in Prevention along incentive items for students
  .
• In 2007-2008, we donated 1,014 in cash and a
  total of 295 hats, gloves, scarves to Covington
  Partner's in Prevention.
• Total money provided to charitable organizations
  through their service or direct donation
  254,538.79 (Maifest 09)

11
Covington vendors

• Covington Police and Fire Department 
• CSI
• Steffens
• KW Electric
• SECO Electric
• John R Green
• Klingenberg's Hardware
• Fedders

12
MainStrasse improvements

• Average of 400k per annum in publicity value
  surrounding events for City/area, scored
  according to Nielsen PR reach metrics
• We have donated the shuttle benches, the street
  signs, the flower pots, the bike rack and a mini
  ambulance to the community for their use and
  enjoyment.
• Purchase and maintain American Flags
• We purchased and installed all the decorative
  lights on the MainStrasse buildings.
• Painted all of the lamp posts cleaned lantern
  glass.

13
Misconception cleanup (example)

• Clean Up - Immaculate Conception Academy, grounds
  set up, festival cleanup, overnight cleanup and
  final cleanup - 9,700.00
• CSI Trash Compacter (08/09)1,828.06
• Trash bags -1437.50
• Port-o-lets, Waste Water Holding Tanks -
  5,235.00
• Grease Barrels - 250.00 (2008, 2009 na)        
• Security - Paramedics and Fire - 2,950
• Police - 24,535.00

14
Yet, we are not without challenges

• Improve our relationship with the City of
  Covington
• Eradicate the belief we are a business
  association (were comprised of
  business/resident/community members)
• Show a better value to the community and its
  respective members, involving stakeholders
• Do a better job at telling people what we are
  doing well
• Improving transparency

15
Being specific

• To make things actionable, we have to be
  specific. We are taking a first attempt at what
  we consider challenges that we can specifically
  action upon.

16
City challenges

• We have heard that the City wants more
  representation on the MainStrasse Board of
  Directors
• Proposal We will provide a board seat to a City
  of Covington employee
• For any capital improvements to the area, we will
  work through the City to propose and fund efforts
• Timeframe Immediate

17
Changing our organizational objectives

• Changing perceptions
• We have been in the process of changing our
  bylaws and organizational objectives over the
  past six months.
• Marketing -gt Capital Improvements
• Why Broken Windows Theory
• Timeframe Ongoing

18
Involving stakeholders

• The MainStrasse Village Association has reached
  out to the ROMA Organization to invite a
  permanent member of their organization to
  represent them on our executive board.
• Capital improvements will involve the City to
  better increase awareness of efforts
• Timeframe Immediate

19
Transparency PR

• Create lottery programs for volunteer
  organizations (equitable opportunity) Timeframe
  Ongoing
• Publish regular reports on website, end of month
  for fiscal and Bell Tower Funds (16k) Timeframe
  This month Ongoing
• Regularly report our service and charitable
  contributions by year Timeframe Ongoing
• This presentation and supporting materials will
  be available on website tomorrow afternoon
  Timeframe Ongoing

20
Examples of actionable feedback

• Problem Parking issues noted during strategic
  plan
• Our marketing efforts during 6-month buy on
  InsightBB had mapping for parking for prospective
  visitors
• Problem Torn flags
• We have since replaced numerous flags and cleaned
  lamp posts, still working on clips
• Problem Business vs Member Marketing
• Our marketing efforts have been event, ie
  festival specific, and other efforts have been
  general marketing
• My request is that we have specificproblems we
  can solve.

21
Biggest challenge History Involvement

• We took the first step in creating actionable
  feedback here
• City involvement Were extending the request
  today
• We need involvement from outside organizations
  Weve reached out to the ROMA organization for
  permanent representation
• Weve outlines changes to our planning process

22
Summary

• Lets not distance dollars from the area
• We are delivering great festivals
• We have to improve our relations, City/Community
• We have to challenge history
• We have to be specific to be actionable
• We have to put more frequent organizational
  information to the forefront