Public Information Act Request: National Folk Festival 2018

Mr. King,

In response to your MPIA request for: “2018 Folk Festival: What was the operational budget for the festival (line by line and abstract). Including budgeted items and actual numbers or costs (line by line). This should include costs of bands, police security, porta potties, construction, etc...
How much was the grant money that was received and who supplied the grant with contact information. How much money did the city have to spend to match grant. How much overall did the festival cost the city. How many people attended the festival - broken down day by day and grand total. Who was the organizer of the festival and how much was that person paid. Also, the cost to pay employees and their names that helped run the festival (line by line). How much (in dollars) did the city benefit from the festival (line by line and estimate of all businesses benefits). A copy of the contract between the City of Salisbury and the National Folk Festival; year by year (including costs/payment to the National Folk Festival for helping the city organize the festival). Also, line by line. In total and line by line, where did the city get the money for the Folk Festival. How much tax money was used for the Folk Festival. Budgeted money for the 2019 folk festival and all donors (such as the county, company donors, personal donors etc...) All line by line,”  please see the following information and attached documents. Answers will be provided in the order with which the questions occur in your request:

1.       What was the operational budget for the festival (line by line and abstract). Including budgeted items and actual numbers or costs (line by line). This should include costs of bands, police security, porta potties, construction, etc...
As mentioned in my previous response, the National Folk Festival’s budget is overseen by the Salisbury Arts & Entertainment District, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity. Their website can be found at https://www.salisburyartsdistrict.com/, if you have any further questions about the budget, please reach out to them.  I will only be able to provide you with the information I have access to, which will be limited to what happens on the municipal side.  Line-by-line expenses will only be available directly through them.

2.       How much was the grant money that was received and who supplied the grant with contact information. How much money did the city have to spend to match grant.Please see attached documents: Ord2508, Ord2514, and Ord2518.  For future reference, all City ordinances are publically accessible and searchable by key term (such as “National Folk Festival grant”) on the City website at https://salisbury.md/departments/city-clerk, or simply go to www.salisbury.com and click on “departments” on the right.

3.       How much overall did the festival cost the city.The 2018 National Folk Festival cost the City of Salisbury $160,534.94  This how that number breaks out:

a.       $80,263.51: Business Development Department’s budget, provided to you in response to you previous MPIA request, and reattached to this reply as “Business_Development_NFF1”

b.       $64,853.99: National Folk Festival Local Director Caroline O’Hare’s salary

c.       $15,417.44: Material cost for the City’s Field Operations division, as provided in response to your previous MPIA request, and reattached to this reply as “NFF_Material_Costs1”

4.        How many people attended the festival - broken down day by day and grand total

             Please See below:

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – WEEKEND OF 8/17 – 8/19

	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm	7pm	8pm	9pm	10pm
Fri 8/17	3RD FRIDAY						2960	1708	1407	960	798
Sat 8/18	912	945	1102	1070	1060	1077	1114	965	981	864	669
Sun 8/19	922	1113	966	1094	858	877	998

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – WEEKEND OF 8/24 – 8/26

	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm	7pm	8pm	9pm	10pm
Fri 8/24							1364	1225	1021	902	740
Sat 8/25	1375	1555	1366	1242	1043	1163	1083	1128	854	804	743
Sun 8/26	1231	1132	1105	1135	970	957	1001

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – WEEKEND OF 8/31 – 9/2

	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm	7pm	8pm	9pm	10pm
Fri 8/31							1529	1455	1170	1101	1034
Sat 9/1	2048	1788	1499	1720	1427	1456	1488	1330	1230	1078	889
Sun 9/2	1592	1267	1332	1231	1196	1130	1100

  

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT  - AVERAGE NON-FOLK-FESITVAL WEEKEND TRAFFIC

	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm	7pm	8pm	9pm	10pm
Fri Average							1951	1463	1199	988	857
Sat Average	1445	1429	1322	1344	1177	1232	1228	1141	1022	915	767
Sun Average	1248	1171	1134	1153	1008	988	1033

  

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT – FOLK FESTIVAL WEEKEND 9/7 – 9/9

	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm	7pm	8pm	9pm	10pm
Fri 9/7							5310	7804	6931	5629	2759
Sat 9/8	4904	5918	7535	7158	7248	6833	7332	6647	5508	5304	4398
Sun 9/9	3106	3567	3727	3128	3368	3223	2217

HOURLY DEVICE COUNT  - % INCREASE FOR FESTIVAL TRAFFIC

	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm	5pm	6pm	7pm	8pm	9pm	10pm
Fri							272%	534%	578%	570%	322%
Sat	339%	414%	570%	533%	616%	555%	597%	583%	539%	579%	573%
Sun	249%	305%	329%	271%	334%	326%	215%

  

This includes paid city staff, volunteers, etc.  It also doesn’t account for people without mobile devices such as ‘off the grid’ people, older people who might not use technology, and the very young.

 We then pulled the Number of Sessions over Time for the weekend.  This shows people who were at the festival for 5+ minutes.  This eliminates all people who were driving by.

  

Average total devices in the Festival footprint for the 3 weekends prior to the Festival for 5 minutes or more:

Friday	13,116
Saturday	10,077
Sunday	7,634

  

Total devices in the Festival footprint during the Folk Festival for 5 minutes or more:

  

Friday	32,096
Saturday	49,164
Sunday	16,671

Gross Total – 97,931 devices in the footprint during the 3 day Festival

Net total (removing the average device count (30,827)  from festival total) – 67,104  new devices detected over the weekendAfter applying the algorithm which accounts for standard deviation from the norm, the City estimated 63,000 attendees.

5.       Also, the cost to pay employees and their names that helped run the festival (line by line).

This response is, ,admittedly, not ready, and for that I apologize.  Due to an miscommunication on my part, the numbers I sourced are the totals, and are not broken down by name.  I ask that you allow me an extra day as allowed under GP § 4-203(d)(1) of the MPIA to produce the names.  Please bear in mind that there may be redactions made for undercover SPD officers, or those acting in sensitive capacities whose identities are protected by law.  The time periods imposed by GP § 4-203 may be extended, with the consent of the applicant, for an additional period not to exceed 30 days, which I ask you to do as the response to this request and the others you have submitted have required extensive work by multiple agencies to compile.  I can produce this response no later than close of business tomorrow, 9/17/2018.

6.       How much (in dollars) did the city benefit from the festival (line by line and estimate of all businesses benefits).Please see the attached document: Beacon_NFF_Impact. This document is readily and publically available online, and was found with a Google search.

7.       A copy of the contract between the City of Salisbury and the National Folk Festival; year by year (including costs/payment to the National Folk Festival for helping the city organize the festival). Also, line by line. In total and line by line, where did the city get the money for the Folk Festival. How much tax money was used for the Folk Festival.
Budgeted money for the 2019 folk festival and all donors (such as the county, company donors, personal donors etc...) All line by lineThis information falls under the purview of the Arts & Entertainment District.

8.        Also, line by line. In total and line by line, where did the city get the money for the Folk Festival. How much tax money was used for the Folk Festival.As elucidated in point 3 above, the 2018 National Folk Festival cost the City of Salisbury $160,534.94.  That is the cost to the taxpayer.

9.       Budgeted money for the 2019 folk festival and all donors (such as the county, company donors, personal donors etc...) All line by linePlease see above for the City’s contributions.  Beyond the information I’ve provided, everything else you seek falls under the purview of the Arts & Entertainment District, as mentioned in our previous correspondence.

I will respond to point 5 in full tomorrow, with your approval.  Should you not wish to grant the extra time, I would urge you to contact the State of Maryland’s PIA Ombudsman to voice your concerns.  Their office exists to ensure that municipalities and their PIOs hew to the letter of the law, and I expect to be held to no less a standard than anyone else.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if I can be of any further service in this matter.

Sincerely,

Christopher M. Demone