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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-01-16 Agenda Airlie Gardens Foundation January 16, 2025 Board Meeting Agenda Michael Creed, Chair Eric Blaesing ,Vice Chair Shane Johnson, Treasurer Nikki Bascome, Secretary Tara Duckworth, Director of Parks & Gardens MISSION To preserve Airlie Gardens in perpetuity as an outstanding, historic public garden with programs developed to serve New Hanover County residents and other visitors. AGENDA January 16, 2025; 8:30 am: Airlie Cottage 1. Call to Order and approval of the November minutes: Michael Creed 2. Chair’s Report: Michael Creed 3. Treasurer’s Report: Shane Johnson a. Financial Update for period ending December 31, 2024 4. Director’s/Operations Report: Tara Duckworth & staff a. EA overview b. Estate gift 5. Other Business: All Board Members Next Meeting: February 20, 2025 AIRLIE GARDENS FOUNDATION BOARD PAGE 2 REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 2024 ASSEMBLY The Airlie Gardens Foundation Board met in regular session at the Airlie Cottage on Thursday, November 21, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. Present: Michael Creed, Ted Davis. Shane Johnson, Eric Blaesing, Beverly Erwin, Charlie Rivenbark, Rob Zapple. Excused: Tia Saffo, Teddy Davis, John Russ Absent: Sandra Ray, Nikki Bascome Staff: Andy Johnson, Jodi Rich, Janine Powell, Tara Duckworth, Scott Childs, Julie Holtz, and Latashia Smith WELCOME AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Michael Creed called the meeting to order. He asked everyone if they had a chance to review the minutes and if there were any changes. Hearing none, the following motion was presented: MOTION: Eric Blaesing MOVED; SECONDED by Shane Johnson, that the minutes of the October meeting be approved. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Chair’s Report. Michael Creed discussed Enchanted Airlie Preview Night and wanted to give a huge shout out to staff on how great it was. He also discussed having an extended meeting with Jennifer Rigby of the Strategic Planning Department during the first couple of weeks of December. He invited Tara, Eric, and Rob Zapple to attend to discuss the framework and to be consistent with what New Hanover County has in place. Michael Creed wanted Janine to discuss the process and difficulty in purchasing Enchanted Airlie tickets during the staff portion of the meeting. Treasurer’s Report. Shane Johnson reviewed the October year-to-date (FY2025) financials for Airlie Gardens Foundation. Highlights  Oyster Roast revenue was greater than prior year and budget due to selling table sponsorships.  It was a record October for Gate revenue.  Weddings and Events are up 35% over prior year. This is attributable to film revenue, more elopements, and more ceremonies during this time period.  Oyster Roast expenses are all in and only slightly over budget (rentals were a little higher). Some of prior year expenses came through in November (due to timing).  Year to date market appreciation is $416K compared to a $513K market depreciation last year. Director’s Report. Tara reviewed the revenue trends for the garden. Gate revenue is at an all-time high. The year 2022 was a record setting year and it has only increased from there. Tara went over the Concert Season Revenue handout. It listed all the concerts from June to September to show which concerts did well and which concerts didn’t do as well. Net sales went down in July. Jodi AIRLIE GARDENS FOUNDATION BOARD PAGE 3 REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 2024 and Tara discussed having some of the newer bands or less expensive bands perform in July since those th aren’t typically high in attendance. There seems to be more for people to do in July with all of the 4 of July celebrations around town as opposed to other months. They will put more focus on the first two months of the season and the last month so that it has a good impression and a lasting impression. Transportation to the concert is very expensive, but there wouldn’t be Camelia members if they didn’t get the free parking passes to the concert. Rob Zapple wanted a cost analysis of what it cost to transport people per rider. The other item discussed was Oyster Roast. With the addition of Blooms and Brews, it allowed table sponsors at Oyster Roast this year. It will still take a couple of years for Blooms and Brews to have the fanfare that Oyster Roast has, but it is doing what was expected, splitting the crowd. Oyster Roast 2024 was the largest crowd ever. Tara presented pictures to the board on the condition of the area in front of the pergola. No grass will grow in front of it because of the shade from the trees. Staff would like to improve this area by installing pavers to make it more inviting. This project would cost around $34,000. When the building was moved forward, the front sidewalk was taken away. Staff would like to add pavers to get to the side of the building without going into the parking lot. This project would cost around $12,000. The total amount would be close to $47,000. Mike Creed suggested that we round the number up to $50,000. The following motion was presented: MOTION: Charlie Rivenbark Blaesing MOVED; SECONDED by Beverly Erwin, that the board agrees to provide $50,000 to install pavers on the entryway to the pergola and install a sidewalk connector to the front of the building. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Janine discussed the Etix side of Enchanted Airlie tickets. In the past, customers complained that they had to be very quick in selecting a date and checking out. If not, by the time they tried to check out, the date they had chosen would not be available. This year, Etix created an online queue that lined people up in the order they signed on. They didn’t have the issue of their chosen date in their cart being sold out within minutes. As for walk-ins, there were 4 stations set up to process both member tickets and general public. More than 1,000 additional tickets were added this year, upping the capacity. Tickets sold out in 24 hours versus 24 minutes as it did in previous years. Janine also explained that there will always be complaints of not hearing about the sale in time or not receiving an email. There is a way that staff can check to see when emails were opened by members. Jodi explained that there are now set days when tickets go on sale. That way customers don’t have to wait ndrdthnd to find out. It is always the 2, 3, and 4 Wednesdays in October each year. The 2 week is the upper- rdth level member sale, 3 week is family and individual, and the 4 Wednesday is general public. They have communicated this all year. When member letters are sent out, they include inserts making them aware of the sale dates. There were about 12,000 carload tickets this year. There were a lot of positive comments about the ease of the sale process. Jodi thinks that some of the complaints stem from people not getting the exact date they want because some dates do sell out quicker than others. Other Business. Mike Creed commented that he is a member at Biltmore and they have recently extended th their Christmas at Biltmore. It starts in early November and extends to January 5. Charlie Rivenbark AIRLIE GARDENS FOUNDATION BOARD PAGE 4 REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 21, 2024 thinks that it is a lot of work getting Enchanted Airlie set up to only offer 23 days and still not a lot of people get to see it. Eric believes that most people are over Christmas the day after Christmas. Janine explained that Biltmore is much larger than Airlie and so is Brookgreen Gardens. She believes that Airlie should be compared with other gardens of a similar size. Eric mentioned that Brookgreen Gardens isn’t as Christmas light oriented. It’s more of a light show. Shane believes it is worth doing an analysis to see if it is worth extending the days to capture more people or if it’s not, due to the wear and tear on the grass and the replacements of the lights. Beverly Erwin questioned whether it was worth adding another hour. Tara explained that the later it gets, the crowd seems to get a bit more disorderly. She mentioned that it had been a few years since an analysis had been done and they could certainly look at trends to do a pro/con analysis. There are a couple of staff members who are already planning to go to Brookgreen Gardens to look for ideas and lights. She is proud that staff has made Enchanted Airlie very garden focused because 10 years ago it was just random lights. Next Meeting. The next board meeting will take place at the Airlie Cottage on Thursday, January 16, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the following motion was presented: Charlie Rivenbark MOVED; Eric Blaesing SECONDED; that the meeting be adjourned. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. The meeting adjourned at 9:22 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Latashia Smith Administrative Coordinator -Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim record of the New Hanover County Airlie Gardens Foundation Board meeting.