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CASE Committee Meeting Minutes 2025.10.16CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025 IN-PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 16 OCTOBER 2025 PAGE 1 | 3 1. ROLL CALL CASE Committee: Committee Chair Justin Chesney, Committee Vice-Chair Pedro Campos, Committee Members Kerri Thelen, Kristen Dudding, Ian Grask, Amy Lewis, Alejandro Cerda, and Town Council Member Ruth Stanley Virtual: N/A Absent: Committee Members Chuq Yang, Thomas Walsh, and Town Council Member Lindsay Hardy Staff: Chief Cultural Officer Danita Dempsey, Senior Special Events Coordinator Chelsea Van Winkle, Special Events Coordinator Emily Dennis, and Town Manager Eric Heil Public: Chris Sena and Russell Frederickson from the Art Guild at Avon The meeting was called to order at 12:30 p.m. 2. MINUTES Committee Member Grask made a motion to approve the meeting minutes from September 18, 2025. The motion was seconded by Committee Vice-Chair Campos, and it passed unanimously. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT No public comments were made. 2. STAFF UPDATE Town Manager Heil provided a brief history of the Cultural, Arts, and Special Events (“CASE”) Committee and how the group works with Town Council. It is currently budget season, so staff are reviewing department goals and budgets. Looking ahead to summer programming, we want to make sure there is adequate time for field maintenance and upkeep.He noted that budgeting this year was difficult due to inflationary costs, staff costs, and remaining competitive with other municipalities. If there is funding leftover from conservative budget estimates, Council may opt to reinstate Lakeside Cinema. We are also looking at reinstating data collection with Destimetrics, increasing marketing budgets, and shifting marketing tactics to encourage people to visit Avon. Town Manager Heil gave an update on other projects. This included relocating some of the bronze statues along Main Street Mall, a potential expansion of the Avon Library into Lot 351 and working towards building a community space as part of the Lot B development. The Committee Commented / Inquired: A. How is the Slifer House Community Space going and how is it being utilized? B. This is exciting stuff we get to focus on over the next year. C. The fact that we do so well during summer and our biggest challenge for employees is during the winter, we can have engagement during the winter when a lot of us don’t have as much community, so I love the idea of opening these spaces. D. Is there a current zoning plan for Lot B? E. Is the art space at the Fire Station still part of the vision? F. Is it still a vision to pursue a Creative Arts District? G. Is there a plan to put something in the Fire Station for the time being? CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025 IN-PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 16 OCTOBER 2025 PAGE 2 | 3 H. How much square footage is the library expansion? I. You talked about expanding revenue, where are those targets to expand? J. Looking at the Three-Mile plan, have there been any thoughts on annexing other communities? Town Manager Heil mentioned that Lot B has flexible zoning. The plan is to tear down the old fire station. The consensus has not been to put more money into something that we will eventually have to knock down. Avon is moving the Facilities Team into the old fire station building for now. There are shop spaces and offices available for them. We will allocate budget in the coming years to knock the building down. The Library District is very enthusiastic about breaking ground, but it likely won’t happen for the next 4 to 5 years. Chief Cultural Officer Dempsey stated that pursuing a Creative Arts District designation is still a long-term goal but that has been delayed by development. A lot has happened since we first applied in 2014 and we were denied but looking forward, we will wait until the Main Street Mall redesign is complete. Town Manager Heil noted that the square footage of the library expansion would take up about one third of the lot space, but the total square footage would come about as part of the design process, and it is more feasible for the town. Getting people up here during the weekend is difficult, but we are looking at doubling our direct flight guarantees. We plan to track that and see where more people come from. There is no plan to expand based on the Three-Mile plan. 4. PRESENTATION BY RESORT ENTERTAINMENT, BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL(S) Diane Moudy introduced herself as owner of Resort Entertainment and provided a presentation about the SpringFree and FreeFall Bluegrass festivals in hopes of bringing them to Avon in 2026. Diane provided a brief history of the festivals and mentioned that increased lodging rates, a limited footprint, and reduced staffing in Vail has encouraged them to look at Avon as an alternative venue for the event. She would like to see “afterparty” activations throughout Avon to help increase business and host a VIP experience for guests. She reviewed marketing tactics and demographic data from past years. The Committee Commented / Inquired: A. I have attended every FreeFall and SpringFree festival so I’m quite familiar with the acts. I was curious about spring vs. fall and their nuances. Which one has been more successful? Is it important for us to take both? B. Does moving the spring festival to June and doing both festivals work for the Town? C. Knowing you’re outgrowing the footprint in Vail, why not move to The Amp? D. How are you calculating the number of lodging units in your proposal? Is there a lodging promo code? E. Assuming this becomes a large event, do we have the infrastructure and parking for that many people? F. That area in Vail is so tight and seems to be why people don’t want to go. Having it in Avon in the wide space is great, it’s a great demographic with lots of families. I think it’s important we spread out the dates enough and have different enough acts to bring in the same guests. G. I think it’s a great idea! June is off season; nothing is really happening yet. Activations with businesses is great. I think this would bring business in. It would be a demographic that we would welcome. H. Can we talk about how alcohol sales work? You mentioned bringing in your own, how would that work? I. How do you differentiate your festivals from other major ones in Colorado, like RockyGrass and Telluride? Is there an opportunity for art activations during the festival? CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025 IN-PERSON AT AVON TOWN HALL CASE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES, 16 OCTOBER 2025 PAGE 3 | 3 Diane mentioned that success for each of the festivals increased each year and that her goal for 2026 is to have them both. She explained that weather is uncertain during SpringFree over Memorial Day Weekend. It would be preferable to move the first festival to June after GoPro Mountain Games and before Telluride Bluegrass Festival. October is also an uncertain time of year for weather, but it brings in a lot of tourists from the front range looking to enjoy the fall colors. She noted that The Ford Amphitheater is not a large enough venue for the event, and they cannot bring in their own alcohol. She also mentioned that her team works directly with hotels to secure lodging and envisions a package opportunity where guests can book lodging, merch, food, and VIP experiences together. Chief Cultural Officer Dempsey mentioned that we have a plan to accommodate that many guests, and we are not concerned about parking. The Town has partners, shuttle options, and can lease the Beaver Creek lots if needed. Diane noted that bands will do variations and bring other musicians in to play together. This helps differentiate between the two festivals and brings back guests in the fall. It is also easier to access from the Front Range than some of the larger festivals. There is room for art activations in Avon with the larger venue. Regarding alcohol sales, Avon would run the bars and keep sales. Resort Entertainment would handle ticket sales, merchandise, vendor fees, and sponsorship. Town Manager Heil mentioned that Avon would handle cash and staff contributions to breakeven. Avon gets $3.00 per ticket and would run alcohol sales. The Committee Commented / Inquired: K. Knowing Telluride has a camping component and Avon passed an ordinance to prevent camping in public areas, is that of any concern? L. Will you gate it? M. Now that Block Party no longer exists, there are a lot of artists going to Telluride. I think that’s a big void in the local event calendar, so I think it’s opportunistic for us to get one of those June weekends. Town Manager Heil mentioned that Avon has always had an ordinance about camping, but it was just updated. RockyGrass and Telluride have camping, and it is part of their draw. Avon likely cannot offer camping since there is limited space. We have had some success with art activations at events and that could be an opportunity for us to differentiate from other festivals. Diane mentioned that camping will not make or break the event. The goal is to get guests into businesses and offer music throughout Avon after the main show. Chief Cultural Officer Dempsey noted that the team has been in conversation with Diane for some time and we have reviewed event calendars both for Avon and all the bluegrass festivals in Colorado to determine the best dates. The special events team continues to work with Diane on dates, pricing, and venue layout. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 1:49 p.m. Respectfully submitted by: Emily Dennis Special Events Coordinator