____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City of Palmer, Alaska: AM No. 18-021 Page 1 of 2

City of Palmer Action Memorandum No. 18-021

Subject: Approving a Council Community Grant in the Amount of $1,500.00 to Downtown Merchants Association Through the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce to Support the April 20-21, 2018, Community Event “Who Let the Girls Out” Agenda of: February 13, 2018 Council Action: ☒ Approved ☐ Amended: ____________________________ ☐ Defeated

Originator Information:

Originator: City Manager

Department Review:

Route to: Department Director:

Signature: Date: Community Development

X Finance

1/23/18 Fire Police Public Works

Approved for Presentation By:

Signature: Remarks:

City Manager

City Attorney City Clerk

Certification of Funds:

Total amount of funds listed in this legislation: $ 1,500.00

This legislation (√): Creates revenue in the amount of: $ Creates expenditure in the amount of: $ 1,500.00 Creates a saving in the amount of: $ Has no fiscal impact

Funds are (√): X Budgeted Line item(s): 01-02-10-6068 Not budgeted

Director of Finance Signature:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ City of Palmer, Alaska: AM No. 18-021 Page 2 of 2

Attachment(s): WLTGO 2018 Community Council Grant Application WLTGO 2018 Scoresheet WLTGO 2017 Report

Summary Statement/Background: Denise Statz on behalf of the Downtown Palmer Merchants Association is requesting a $1,500 grant to help finance the 8th Annual “Who Let the Girls Out” (WLTGO) in Palmer on April 20 and 21, 2018. The event is conducted in Palmer and is encouraging businesses in the Greater Palmer Area to participate in the event downtown as well. These grant funds will be received by the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce. The event is expected to bring in more than 2,500 people participating in the Palmer community over the weekend. The organization will conduct an impact survey along with a “passport” that encourages visits to all events/venues which will be collected to verify numbers of participants. This year the group is working on a universal coupon that may add insight in the value of the print advertising. WLTGO has received grant funding from Palmer in the past. As a community event there is no limit to how many times a grant may be funded. In February 2015, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 14-043, which established the Council Community Grant program. The Council also approved $10,000.00 in Community Council Grants line item for 2018 that would finance approved Council grants.

Legislation # Organization Amount Date Approved

AM No. 18-021 Who Let The Girls Out Total 2018 Grants approved prior: $0

Administration’s Recommendation: Action Memorandum No. 18-021 to approve a Council Community Grant in the Amount of $1500.00 to Downtown Merchants Association through the Greater Palmer Chamber of Commerce to support the April 20-21, 2018, community event: “Who Let the Girls Out”

7th AnnuAl EvEnt!

2017 marked year 7 of Palmer’s spring fling for women! WLTGO is a collaborative effort to create a community-wide event. This differentiates it from other events, diffusing the cost of event production throughout the Palmer business community.

PARTICIPANTS CHIP IN All participating businesses chip in to pay for marketing expenses, and some for music too. However, the level of investment for each individual event is voluntary and varies from business to business. This independent planning and use of resources adds up to a great event, but until now has not been quantified. IN KIND DONATION & ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT This year we asked all businesses to assign a value to their additional efforts, above and beyond the cost of participation. We have calculated that value, along with the in-kind

donations from media companies involved, and cash donations from non-participant businesses. This yields a more accurate measure of the economic impact of WLTGO.

PARTNERING WITH ANOTHER GROUP This was brought up by Teresa Roy at the wrap party, that we might pursue collaborating with another group to offset some expense and increase engagement. While we did reach out to a few businesses this year, our late start prohibited our investment of time. Next year we hope to use this year’s report, and start sooner, to make headway with partnerships.

ECONOMIC IMPACT Clearly, some business entities in the Palmer area chose not to contribute to the event officially, but still benefit from the increased foot traffic and marketing of Downtown Palmer. It will be impossible to measure that data.

7th AnnuAl EvEnt!

WLTGO PASSPORT - A Gauge of SuccessHaving met with several business owners since the event, my feeling is that the most popular topic of discussion has been the Passport. This piece of paper, distributed to each participating business, served as a fun game for

people, and a measure for participants. As a marketing tool, it was a gauge for the business owners to measure activity.

Getting the minimum of 25 stamps is a lofty goal for any shopper, and while this drove traffic, it is important to note that many shoppers tried and failed to reach the 25 mark, but still played the game and had fun. But also important to consider is that even more did not play at all, seeing 25 stops as prohibitive - these shoppers represent potential for growth of the Passport engagement, and represent the majority of the foot traffic for this event.

The Passports function ergonomically with the walk-ability of Palmer’s downtown.

Some criticism was that it didn’t compel a purchase, but it was discussed that this was by design, to increase engagement. It was also discussed how we might improve the Passport to incentivize purchase, without lessening engagement.

Also, we intend to limit one Passport per person, as some shoppers were more than happy to show us our flaw, bringing in 3 or 4 Passports per person. While this was not widely reported by participants, it is certainly a real problem. Thankfully, it has a simple solution for next year.

We also discussed that the Passport should and could be turned in, even partially completed, acting as a coupon for discounts. This would drive sales, and more so, increase the accuracy of the Passport as a gauge for economic activity.

Clearly, the WLTGO PASSPORT is a terrific tool to measure the effectiveness of this event, and it’s potential for driving sales is not fully explored. Having had a hand in the design of this year’s Passport, I can report that the Passport itself might need to be bigger. This year, with the additional design elements we incorporated, the Passport was cramped as it was. Without additional paper space, the Passport will become less effective as it becomes less legible.

Passports required 25 business stamps to be eligible for the drawing upon return.

1500 PASSPORTS WERE PRINTED & DISTRIbUTED 483 PASSPORTS WERE RETURNED

Consider that roughly 1/3 of the Passports were returned, while the other 2/3 of the Passports were presumably partially completed, and therefor not returned.

This drives foot traffic considerably, and with the feedback from local businesses, we can certainly expand on this success.

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A B C D E FPar$cipants Contact  Name Level In-­‐Kind  /  Addi$onal Passport  Par$cipant?107.1  Khitz  Radio Madison N/A $1,600 $1,60089.5  Radio  Free  Palmer Mike  Chmielewski N/A $500 $50095.5  The  Pass Michael  Consalo N/A $1,500 $1,500AcLve  Body  Downtown  Gym/AcLve  Soles Cathy,  Kate  Arnold $300 $75.00 $375.00 yesArLsts  Uncorked DiaN/A  Bland $500 N/A $500 yesBBella  Hair  Design BeTy  Pierce $150 0 $150 yesBishops  AVc Jack  Williamson   $500 0 $500 yesBleeding  Heart  Brewery Zach  &  Stefan 0 $850 $850BouLque  on  Main Denise $300 N/A $300 yesCar  Deets Jim $200.00 $200.00CharloTe's  Flowers CharloTe  Hillyer $300 N/A $300 yesCountry  Legends Sandy  Weihs N/A $1,750 $1,750Cover  Ups Teresa  Roy $300 $300 $600 yesDalrymple  Law  P.C. Danalyn  Dalrymple $150 0 150DuJour  Fashion Kendra  Nugent $300 $60 $360 yesErik  Christensen  -­‐  State  Farm  Insurance Erik  Christensen $500 0 500Fireside  Books David  Cheezem $300 0 300 yesForever  Endeavor Tara  Pollock $150 0 $150 yesGreater  Palmer  Chamber  of  Commerce Ralph  Renzi $250 0 $250Heritage  Midwifery/Float  Alaska Kirsten  Gerrish $400 0 $400 yesHot  Hot  Chocolate  Shop Cyndi  Lazar   $100 $200 $300 yesHumdinger's  Pizza Gordon  &  Simone  Fletcher N/A $500 $500 yesInn  Café  &  Steakhouse Janet  Kincaid $500 0 $500 yesKlondike  Mike's Jennie  Westhoff $300 $4,400 $4,700 yesLa  Fiesta Pedro  Gonzalez $300 0 $300 yesLodestar  Family  Eye  Care Dr.  Kara $500 0 $500Fables  at  Madd  MaTers Pam $350 $150 $500 yesMake  A  Scene  &  The  People's  Paper Josh  Fryfogle N/A $17,005 $17,005Mat-­‐Su  Running  Club Tracy  Verrall N/A 0MTA Paul  Aadland $500 0 $500MVFCU George $350 0 $350Nesse  Photo  LLC.   Nik N/A $500 $500Nourished  Health Winona  Benson $550 $550NonEssenLals Denise  Smith  Statz $350 $4,180 $5,080 yesPalmer  Downtown  Deli Kevin  Brown $300 $430 $730 yesParadise  Tanning KrisLn  Shields $300 0 $300 yesPizza  Delphi John  Christensen $1,000 $900 $1,900 yesPurple  Moose  /  Vagabond  Blues Lorie $500 0 $500 yesShane  Lamb  Studios Shane  Lamb $300 $4,185 $4,485 yesSilverLp  Designs Toni  QuanLck N/A $500 $500 yesThe  Garden  Gate Maggie  McDaniel $350 0 $350 yesThe  Palmer  City  Ale  House MaT  Tomter $500 0 $500 yesThe  Stamp  Cache Jeanne  Perkins $300 $125 $425 yesThe  UPS  Store Stacie  SLgar N/A $1,000 $1,000Valley  Hotel Janet  Kincaid $500 0 $500 yesWhimsy  Gig  Shoppe Kelly $300 0 $300 yesWishing  Wellness  LLC.   Estelle  Strawn $500 $1,703.04 $2,203.04 yes

$12,500 $43,163 $56,213

Project Name: Who Let The Girls Out

Reviewer Name: Nathan Wallace Date: 1/23/2018

Qualification Pre-Check

All items listed below must be present before further review of application.

X Event must be accessible to all members of the community.

X Event must take place within Palmer city limits or within one mile of city limits.

X Event has received funding from the City in the past. List the years funding was received: 2012- $500 2014-$1000/ 2016 -$2000 2017-$2000

If event was supported by a City grant in the past, the post event report from the previous event is complete.

Application Elements

Expectations Points Earned

Acce

ssib

ility &

St

rate

gic P

riorit

ies 10 pts 7 pts. 3-0 pts

The application clearly states the economic benefits and the reader/evaluator easily understands the benefits to the community and residents of the City.

The application states the benefits, however it is not clear and/or the reviewer/evaluator must assume or use reason to determine the benefits to the community and residents of the City.

The application does not clearly demonstrate the benefits and/or the reader/evaluator cannot determine through reasoning the benefits to the community or residents of the City.

10 The application clearly addresses how the project meets one or more of the City’s Economic Development Strategic Priorities.

The application attempts to address how the project meets one or more of the City’s Economic Development Strategic Priorities; however, the reviewer/evaluator must assume or use reason to determine how the project is addressing a strategic priority(s).

The application does not clearly demonstrate how the project is addressing a strategic priority and/or the reader/evaluator cannot determine through reasoning how the project is addressing a strategic priority.

10

Fi

scal

The application clearly states how much financial or in-kind services are being requested for the project.

The application contains information regarding financial and/or in- kind services as part of the project; however, it is not clear and the reviewer/evaluator must assume or use reason to determine what is being requested.

The application does not clearly state what is being requested and/or the reviewer/evaluator cannot determine through reasoning. 7

The application includes a project budget which demonstrates sound fiscal practices and reviewer/evaluator can easily understand.

The application includes a project budget; however, the reviewer/evaluator has questions or has to use reason to understand the overall budget for the project.

The application does not include a project budget or the reviewer/evaluator cannot understand and/or has significant concerns about the budget as presented.

7

Be

nefit

The application clearly states how the community will benefit as a result of the event.

The application states the degree of benefits; however, it is not clear and the reviewer/evaluator must assume or use reason to determine the how the community will benefit as a result of this grant.

The application does not clearly demonstrate the degree of benefits and/or the reviewer/evaluator cannot determine the how the community will benefits as a result of this grant.

10

Re

porti

ng

The application clearly states how and when the City will receive a post event report on this project.

The application attempts to address how a post event report will be given to the City; however it is unclear and the reviewer/evaluator must assume or use reason to determine how and when the report will be presented.

The application does not attempt to address how a post event report will be given to the City or the reviewer/evaluator cannot determine how the report will be presented.

10

Total: 54/60