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CASE Committee Meeting Minutes 2025.08.21CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 IN-PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 21 AUGUST 2025 PAGE 1 | 3 1. ROLL CALL CASE Committee: Committee Chair Justin Chesney, Committee Vice Chair Pedro Campos, Ian Grask, Chuq Yang, Kristen Dudding, and Amy Lewis Absent: Town Council Member Ruth Stanley, Town Council Member Linsday Hardy, and Alejandro Cerda Staff: Senior Special Events Coordinator Chelsea Van Winkle and Special Events Coordinator Emily Dennis Virtual: Committee Members Thomas Walsh and Kerri Thelen joined at 12:33 p.m. The meeting was called to order at 12:31 p.m. 2. MINUTES Committee Member Yang made a motion to approve the meeting minutes from May 15, 2025. The motion was seconded by Committee Vice Chair Campos, and it passed unanimously. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comments were made. 4. STAFF UPDATE Senior Special Event Coordinator Van Winkle introduced the packet materials and provided an overview to the group, noting that the summer event season has been successful thus far and will be coming to an end after Labor Day weekend and Community Picnic. The Committee will receive an in-depth review of the event season during the fall. An overview of the 2026 budget process was reviewed, with mention that budgets will remain flat. An overview of the Committee’s BreckCreate peer community tour was provided, and committee members were encouraged to provide any ideas for future community tours. The Committee inquired / commented: A. Did we receive the T-Mobile grant this year, and if not, will we try again in 2026? B. Is there a list of other peer communities to visit? Steamboat Springs has a strategic plan, is that community on the list? C. I really appreciated how BreckCreate collaborated with the other nonprofits, it’s very important. They are a leader for nonprofits in the creative space. D. I like that Breckenridge town leaders thought through the programming years before with all the old historic structures, knowing they could be useful in the future. E. They also built new buildings to match the historic structures, and it is very well down. F. How will we pay for our own strategic planning if budgets are flat? Special Event Coordinator Dennis provided an overview of the Colorado Creative Industries (“CCI”) conference and accompanying council report from May 2025. This included key takeaways from the conference by Town Staff and CASE Committee attendees. Priority areas included exploring funding opportunities for the arts through grant offerings and continuing to build capacity in the arts both through increased programmatic offerings. CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 IN-PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 21 AUGUST 2025 PAGE 2 | 3 The Committee inquired / commented: A. I learned a lot about funding opportunities at CCI. The Boetcher Rural grants offer funding of $1,000 and up to $10,000 and could be something for us to look at. B. Will we apply for the National Endowment of the Arts (“NEA”) grants again next year for strategic planning? C. I am working with a group, and we are applying for the Think360 grants to get a mural at Homestake Peak School. We have identified some spaces that would be good for a mural. Letters of interest are due February 23 so hopefully we will have a mural for kids to work on at Homestake Peak School next year. Senior Special Event Coordinator Van Winkle mentioned that staff will be meeting with ArtSpace to learn more about their offerings and next steps for art programming and funding in Avon. The Art Guild at Avon report was reviewed, noting that they have grown in their space at The Seasons. They have offered lots of programming from mini- to multi-day workshops. The Art Guild at Avon also offers free opportunities, including First Friday Gallery Nights and Art Walks. The post-event recap for Salute to the USA was reviewed, noting that there were over 16,000 guests in attendance this year. Attendance rates were likely impacted by lower tourism rates, weather, and extensive road closures. The Committee inquired / commented: A. Is the attendance number down from 2024? I think the I-70 road closures had the largest impact on Salute. B. Tourism is down across the country. C. Regardless, it felt like a very full event and went well. D. The redesign of the layout was great. E. Why didn’t the bands engage on social media? F. Larger artists do not always do social media posts, and it is usually not a requirement in contracts. A lot of these larger bands are already well established and do not need to promote their shows. Sometimes they will do a tour recap but not show specific. Senior Special Events Coordinator Van Winkle mentioned that there were some constraints at Salute with vendor relocation, construction, and power access, but staff are looking at those logistics and how to improve them for the future. Staff are also considering ways to increase attendee use of the free online GIS map of the venue. The Intercepts Insights survey was presented. Guests enjoyed the event overall, but provided feedback related to seating and prohibited items. Staff are also considering art activations for future Salute events. The Committee inquired / commented: A. I went to Avanti’s art event this past weekend. It was an art competition with live painting. Is there an opportunity to do that at Salute? B. The Avanti event was the first inaugural art challenge to select an artist for the new studio in Ford Park. Most of the artists were from the Art Guild. I think we should harness the energy that Art Guild brings. It would be nice to have them in a more visible capacity. C. There could be an opportunity to partner with an artist each week at SunsetLIVE! or AvonLIVE! to help grow that space. CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 IN-PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 21 AUGUST 2025 PAGE 3 | 3 D. I know budgets are flat, but there is a big mural festival in Amarillo, Texas. They do live paintings and have music and different activations around the city for kids. It brings in a lot of people and they do it once a year. E. Eagle County is so saturated with music events, so art events could be very interesting. F. Is the new restroom building going to be done before Salute next year? Is there any art going in that area? 4. CURRENT ACTIVITY / PLANNING Senior Special Event Coordinator Van Winkle reviewed the Food Truck RFP with the committee and explained that Rocky Mountain Taco had been in that location since 2016. There were three applications, and the committee has decided to move forward with Rocky Mountain Taco for the three-year lease. There may be future opportunities for additional food trucks around Avon beyond the current offerings. The Committee commented / inquired: A. What is the limiting factor in that space? B. Are there any locations for food trucks on the Main Street Mall? C. Food trucks are all the rage! D. How long has Rocky Mountain Taco been there? E. I really like the layout, and the tables are on the train tracks. It has a cool vibe over there. F. I do think it would be amazing to have more food trucks, I’m over there way too often. G. The social aspect of the space is great. Senior Special Event Coordinator Van Winkle read through the future agenda items for the group. The Committee inquired / commented: A. I have been going to SunsetLIVE! this summer and it has been great. The venue is great, and it has grown enough that there are some things to consider. It is the most intimate event we do, and I think we should handle it with care. A little support for food and beverage offerings would be nice. It is a unique event and community oriented. B. The restroom space is going to be very complimentary and add to the space as a natural extension of the venue. C. I love that we cleaned up the trees around the venue, it looks very nice. D. I keep thinking that a semi-permanent structure would be good and could be a vending opportunity during the summer since people are there all summer long. Something with the right vendor would be appealing and could be utilized during SunsetLIVE! and all summer long. E. There is an ice cream vendor I’ve noticed around the lake. They might not have a permit, but it would be a great opportunity to sell things. F. We should rename the restroom buildings. G. Will they do an ice-skating rink again this winter? Does that fall under special events? ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 1:44 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Emily Dennis Special Events Coordinator