Eureka Springs AR-ticket issues at venue

[charlene]

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-story-eu...,4064421.story

EUREKA SPRINGS, Ar -- Money spent on the auditorium in Eureka Springs isn't being made up in revenue--leaving the city with a difficult decision to make. It's actually cheaper to keep the auditorium empty, rather than host an event. Having a full staff during an event costs quite a bit of money as does paying the performer's fees.

"Ten to 15 years ago," said Executive Director of the City Advertising and Promotion Commission Jim Williams, "this was the venue for Northwest Arkansas." Times have changed for the Auditorium in Eureka Springs. "Now you have performing arts centers in Greenwood, Forth Smith, Alma," Williams said.

The list of problems doesn't end there. One of the biggest problems that the auditorium has is ticket prices. There are only a 1,000 seats available. When big name acts come to town, that can be a real problem. When Willie Nelson came to town tickets were $116. B.B. King tickets were close to a $100. "The night before [B.B. King] performed here you could go to Tulsa and see him for $35," Williams said.

Getting big acts to even come to Eureka Springs is another issue all to itself. "A lot of people on this wall, a lot of them because of the economy and what's happened in the music industry aren't traveling like they used to," said Williams.

The City Advertising and Promotion Commission manages the Aud. It costs about $100,000 a year. Williams, along with businesses in the area, think that money could be spent elsewhere. "In this day and age, where getting tourists to town is so competitive, I just don't know how much money we ought to put here and how much of that ought to be spent out of market."

So what should be done about the Aud? The CAPC would like to see the city take over, covering all the costs or turn it into a historical marker. That is easier said than done. "It's tough," Williams said, "you have to be really careful where you put those tax problems."

For the meantime, the CAPC will continue to run the Aud, but hopes there is some relief in the near future. "Although I love the facility, I just don't see a great future." The type of tourist they are seeing at the shows at the Aud is changing as well.

Gordon Lightfoot recently performed and out of 400 tickets sold only 11 were from people more than an hour away. That means people aren't traveling to the area, staying the weekend and seeing a show. They are in and out and back to home.

[timetraveler]

Yesterday was two years to the day that Gordon came to Little Rock, and it seemed that practically every seat in the house was filled. Many of the people who were there came from out of town & even had made reservations to stay in nearby hotels. The only thing that I can think of is that what's happening to & in Eureka Springs is that they are relying far too much on the tourist dollar. There surely has to be something that they can do with the auditorium rather than just let it set & rot, so to speak.