Studer Community Institute

Businesses and DIB face Gallery Night deficit

June 19, 2015
/ Mike Ensley
/ community-dashboard

It’s déjà vu all over again. After a controversy surrounding outside liquor sales that we reported on last month, Gallery Night is once again in the crossfire. Facing a monthly deficit of $2,357, downtown Pensacola’s popular event is looking at potential cutbacks, or in some downtown business owners’ minds, extinction. Led by Joe Abston, several restaurant and bar owners met Monday to strategize and find a way to meet the shortfall. “If things don’t come close to a zero balance by the end of 2015, I think the future of the event is uncertain,” said Abston, who owns Hopjacks and The Tin Cow. “I believe that the Downtown Improvement Board and the Mayor don’t want Gallery Night in its present form anymore.” Abston noted that Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward said in a recent radio interview that he wants to see the event return to four to six nights a year and change its focus. Last month, Tamara Fountain, chief operations officer for the City of Pensacola, told Pensacola Today something similar. “The mayor feels it may be time to ‘high-brow’ the event and return it to its original purpose of showcasing art,” Fountain said. For his part, Executive Director Ron Butlin says the DIB is dedicated to keeping Gallery Night intact. “The board reiterated in its meeting this week that it supports Gallery Night remaining 12 times a year,” Butlin said. “I think that the issue is that the events are successful enough that they should be financially sustaining themselves.” DIB Board Chairman John Peacock agrees. “No one has said that Gallery Night is going away,” he said. Getting everyone in the game According to figures provided by Abston at the meeting, the average Gallery Night costs about $8,000 and with the monthly loss, the event is costing the DIB around $16,500 a year. Both the DIB and the bar and restaurant owners agree that one of the biggest reasons for the shortfall is businesses on Palafox Street that open on Gallery Night and benefit, but don’t pay to be “official participants.” “We have to go to non-participants and say, ‘Get in the game,’” Abston said, addressing the group. “If the smaller players pledged $100 more per month and the larger ones $250, it would go a long way to toward making up the difference.” Participants pay on a sliding scale, based on their participation level in the event. Full bars that feature liquor pay the most at $2,500 a year/$250 per event, beer and wine establishments pay $1,750/$175 and those who don’t serve alcohol pay $1,200/$125. “If you’re going to be open, you should pay the fee,” Peacock said. “Gallery Night benefits everyone, even if that benefit isn’t instant for everyone.” Even though people may not spend their money at a retailer during the event, it does raise their awareness. “A lot of these businesses don’t consider the intangible effect of Gallery Night,” Butlin said. “You may not do as well as someone else on that evening, but the event broadens downtown’s appeal and gets people talking.” A decrease in sponsorships Abston says another factor in the shortfall is a decrease in sponsors and the owners tried to determine ways to make Gallery Night more attractive to them. One suggestion made at the meeting was the formation of a downtown coalition among those who sell alcohol to offer only one company’s product at street-side bars. “If all of these bars and restaurants signed a voluntary pledge to do this, a sponsor might be willing to pay more for that exclusivity,” Abston said. Local distributor Lewis Bear Company is one of Gallery Night’s largest sponsors. But according to Chad Bonner, the company’s vice president, exclusivity at outside bars is something the company feels it should be already getting. “We’ve never pressed anyone on the issue,” Bonner said. “But it is something, as the largest sponsor, that we wish the DIB and the owners would think we deserve for our loyalty.” Lewis Bear became sponsors of the event early on and have never waivered in that commitment, Bonner said, but the company, which increased its sponsorship when the series went to 12 times a year, did decrease this year. “We went back to the level of sponsorship that we had when Gallery Nights were only held seven times a year,” Bonner said. “Frankly, we just weren’t seeing the return that we thought we should from the 12 nights.” Adapting to a changing landscape Gallery Night went from seven to 12 nights a year in 2014 and Abston says not only has it been a boon for downtown, but also for many of the businesses that have opened it the interim. “Gallery Night is important to many businesses on Palafox,” he said. “It often makes people’s month and many of these people opened based on the fact that there would be 12 nights.” Peacock believes that type of thinking is a poor decision. “A lot of these folks aren’t seeing the big picture,” he said. “If these owners made a business plan based on Gallery Night, that was not sound thinking.” Gallery Night will have to adapt in his mind — as downtown changes, so must the event. “We have a to find a balance here and that is difficult,” Peacock said. “Downtown’s density is increasing and the form of Gallery Night will have to change to meet that. As the DIB, we have to consider not just the Palafox bars and restaurants, but how it effects everyone.” Two major issues, aside from the monetary, will need to be addressed soon in changing nature of the event are the garbage left behind and a potential increase in crime, Peacock said. “The people who come down here on Gallery Night aren’t here on Saturday morning to see the mess that is left in the streets,” Peacock said. “With the new development happening in downtown, we will soon be balancing residential, retail, bars and restaurants.” While there have been no major crimes or increase in arrests reported during Gallery Night, Peacock wants to be proactive. “As more and more people have come out, I’ve noticed that there are more people in the outlying areas off Palafox. I have concerns that while Palafox might be safe, something could happen there,” Peacock said. “We are starting to address those issues.” The DIB recently contracted with a private security company to patrol these areas in hopes of preventing anything from occuring. Returning to the DIB's mission For Peacock, the DIB itself must also return to its original mission, chiefly to reduce blight downtown. “Gallery Night is a part of what the DIB does, but we’re not supposed to be an entertainment board,” Peacock said. “Palafox is four blocks. We have 44 other blocks that need attention.” Butlin also sees change for Gallery Night and part of that is fighting the perception that the event is just a big street party. “I get frustrated because people say that Gallery Night is not about art anymore, but that’s not true,” he said. “From 5 to 9 p.m., the street is full of artists on the street and the galleries are open and I see many, many families.” He believes that if Gallery Night did end, something else would take its place. “We have enough critical mass and momentum now that I don’t think we will be without some monthly event downtown,” Butlin said. “Personally, I can eventually see something broader and even more exciting happen.” Peacock says he wants everyone come together and work through these issues together – including the DIB, the retailers, bars and restaurants and even the public. “I want everyone to take ownership,” he said. “Gallery Night is a good thing and I think we all get that, but we need everyone to take responsibility for making it the best it can be.” But for the majority of bar and restaurant owners that gathered on Monday, the message wasn’t that clear. “If we don’t come close to filling the gap soon, I believe Gallery Night will be gone,” Abston said. By meeting’s end many owners in attendance said they supported the effort to encourage non-paying participants to do their share. Dog House Deli owner Jim Holler was visibly upset by the discussion and asked the question that seemed to be lingering in the air. “Gallery Night has really put downtown Pensacola on the map,” he said. “Almost everyone here does better on those nights. Why would anyone not want to continue that?” Peacock believes to make that happen, everyone will need to work together. "I just want to live long enough that when we circle all the wagons, we shoot out, not in,” Peacock said.

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Businesses and DIB face Gallery Night deficit

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