The making of Music on Main
Editor’s Note: A group of Sheffield residents are working together to organize a new community-wide event, Music on Main, for next summer. During the next several months, the Bureau County Republican will check in with the Music on Main folks to discuss how things are going and what it takes to make a festival happen — things like how to fund the event, where do you find the needed musical bands, and what about insurance, security and other behind-the-scenes costs? The goal is to have Music on Main organized and primed to start by mid-July.
SHEFFIELD — The Music on Main Committee has undertaken a daunting task as it tackles its goal of planning the new community event, including how to pay for it.
Committee member Adrienne Ries said the main expenses in the making of Music on Main includes hiring bands to perform and renting a tent to cover the bands and a portion of the enclosed Main Street area. The tent is needed to provide protection from the early evening sun and the potential of rain, she said.
There are also other expenses, such as insurance and utilities. The committee doesn’t think the insurance cost will be extreme, and the committee is hopeful the village will provide utilities, as it has done for the previous Sheffield Homecoming Festivals.
Ries said as Music on Main draws closer, there will also be advertising costs, but for now advertising will be done through the promotion of fundraisers.
In addition to the live music and a 5K race, Music on Main will also include a wine-tasting, Ries said. Five wineries have verbally committed to participating and would need to buy special licenses for the one-day event, set for July 16, 2011. The Music on Main Committee has discussed possibly reimbursing licensing costs for the wineries, she said.
Looking at needed revenue, Ries said Music on Main will be funded through donations, fundraisers and possibly from the village’s “band fund.” The band fund is a village fund which comes from Sheffield property tax monies, Ries said. The band fund is a line item on Sheffield’s property tax.
“The village of Sheffield forefathers introduced this so there would always be money available for music in Sheffield,” Ries said. “This is the only thing that the band fund money can be used for. In the past, the board has given that property tax money to Sheffield Homecoming and the Danish Church ecumenical Christmas service, that I know of.”
In time, collection jars will be placed around the community and a bank account set up for donations. At this point, there has been no money received, so there is no reason to set up the account yet, Ries said. There will also be a small admission price for Music on Main, with additional optional tickets for people participating in the wine-tasting.
Looking at possible fundraisers, the Music on Main Committee has discussed many ideas, Ries said. The committee is planning a Sheffield Bar bag/pool tourney in October and a golf outing in the spring. The committee has also discussed a music trivia night this winter and some kind of fundraiser through the Chestnut Street Inn.
A few other ideas have been discussed, but what the committee really needs at this point is to take one fundraiser idea and run with it, including more planning and getting more people to help, Ries said.
“That is our main setback — getting people to commit to helping,” Ries said. “The group of people in the planning stages of Music on Main cannot do everything. We are a very small group. Hopefully more people will either attend a meeting or call Mary Ann Cernovich or me to volunteer to help.”
The Music on Main Committee will embrace any sort of commitment which the village of Sheffield, the Sheffield Pride, or any other groups or individuals can give, Ries said.
“It takes more than words of encouragement for the finished product,” Ries said.
The Music on Main Committee met earlier this week and will meet again at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Community Center. Community members are welcome to all meetings, Ries said.
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